Melamine Suspected in Chinese Seafood

WASHINGTON — Scientists and consumer advocates have begun raising concerns that seafood raised on Chinese fish farms may be contaminated with melamine, according to a report last week by the Los Angeles Times.

Melamine — the industrial chemical that earlier this year sickened thousands of children who consumed Chinese-produced powdered milk and infant formula — is routinely added to fish feed in Chinese aquaculture operations to artificially boost protein ratings, the report said. Residues of the chemical often remain in fish that have consumed the tainted feed.

According to the report, recent laboratory studies by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Animal Drugs Research Center found that trout, tilapia and catfish raised on melamine-spiked feed had melamine concentrations of up to 200 parts per million, or more than 80 times the maximum “tolerable” level set by the FDA for safe human consumption.

Although some U.S. fish importers voluntarily test for melamine, the FDA does not currently require imported seafood to be screened for the chemical.

Read More of Today's Headlines