ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CNN) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Thursday announced it is blocking the import from China of five species of seafood until their importers can prove they are not contaminated.
"FDA is initiating an import alert against several species of imported Chinese farmed seafood because of numerous cases of contamination with drugs and unsafe food additives," said Dr. David Acheson, the agency's assistant commissioner for food protection, in a conference call with reporters.
/initiate: はじめる
/additive: 添加物
/catfish: ナマズ
The species cited are catfish, eel, shrimp, basa and dace, he said. Basa is
similar to catfish; dace is similar to carp.
The medications cited include the antimicrobials nitrofuran, malachite green,
gentian violet and fluoroquinolones.
/antimicrobial: 抗菌剤
Nitrofuran, malachite green, and gentian violet have been shown to cause
cancer in laboratory animals.
Use of fluoroquinolones in food-producing animals can result in antibiotic
resistance.
None of them is approved for use in farmed seafood in the United States and
some of them have been shown to cause cancer when fed to laboratory animals for
"prolonged periods of time," Acheson said.
/prolong: を延長する
Alerts have been issued in the past, but Thursday's announcement is the largest.
/imminent: 切迫した
/biological classification
/catfish
migran
Minamata disease, sometimes referred to as Chisso-Minamata disease
(Chisso-Minamata-by?), is a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury
poisoning.