T97-32 Lawrence Bachorik (301) 827-6242
July 16, 1997
Consumer Hotline (800) 532-4440
REVISED SAMPLING AND TESTING PROGRAM FOR CATFISH
The Food and Drug Administration today announced a revised
sampling and testing program for catfish that will reduce human
exposure to dioxin and that will at the same time assure a
continued flow of safe catfish to consumers. The new program,
developed with the full assistance and cooperation of state
regulatory officials and industry representatives, applies to
catfish farmers and processors and will take effect at midnight,
Sunday, July 20, 1997. The sampling and testing program
announced last week for eggs remains unchanged.
Sampling and testing of eggs and catfish became necessary
after it was recently learned that some animal feed contaminated
with dioxin had been distributed and fed to poultry and catfish.
Under the terms of the new program, FDA will collect and
analyze samples of catfish, and will pool its findings with those
from sampling and testing already underway by the industry and
the states. FDA will use these data to determine the minimum
feed withdrawal times for various sizes of catfish that will
result in acceptable levels of dioxin when the fish is processed.
In addition, FDA has also suggested some steps that states
and industry might follow to assure a steady flow of catfish to
processors. Such steps include identifying farmers that are
exempt from testing because their operations did not receive any
of the dioxin-contaminated feed and, for all other farmers,
planning and implementing a testing schedule consistent with
feeding practices and available analytical laboratories.
The FDA on July 7 told commercial catfish producers not to
ship human food products produced from or by animals who may have
eaten animal feed contaminated with dioxin, unless they could
demonstrate through testing that the human food contains only
background levels of dioxin.
On July 11, after several meetings with interested parties
that week, FDA determined that its original sampling and testing
program for catfish would not be successful. At that time, FDA
pledged to work intensively with interested parties to develop
and put in place an appropriate and public-health based sampling
and testing program for catfish and other food fish.
FDA, which is working to expand its analytical testing
capacity, will continue to collaborate closely with all
interested parties during this period of sampling and testing
period and beyond.
The sampling and testing program is designed to ensure that
catfish that might contain dioxin in amounts of one part per
trillion (ppt) or greater do not enter commercial channels. The
one ppt level was carefully chosen as a threshold that would
identify food from animals which had consumed dioxin-contaminated
feed while allowing products with background levels of dioxin to
move into commerce. It is not intended to serve as a permanent
standard for dioxin in human food, but rather is a reasonable
cut-off level for this episode of known, avoidable dioxin
contamination of human food from a single source.
Federal health officials continue to emphasize that the
levels of dioxin found so far in catfish present no immediate
public health hazard. The FDA emphasizes that consumers should
not hesitate to consume eggs and catfish they have at home or
purchase on the retail market.
This sampling and testing program grew out of a Federal
investigation into the cause and extent of elevated dioxin levels
found in two of 80 poultry samples from a recently completed
national survey. The investigation disclosed that the source of
the dioxin in the chickens was soybean meal, which contained
"ball clay" added to the meal as an anti-caking agent. The ball
clay, which was found to contain elevated levels of dioxin, was
traced to a single clay mine in Mississippi. At the request of
the FDA, the mine stopped shipping clay for feed use.
Federal officials, led by the EPA, continue to investigate
the source of dioxin contamination at the clay mine.
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This is a mirror of the page at HTTP://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/ANSWERS/ANS00808.html
Press Release (July 7, 1997) FDA Stops Distribution of Some Eggs and Catfish because of Dioxin-Contaminated Animal Feed
Talk Paper (July 25, 1997) Catfish Cleared for Processing and Shipping