Chile faces new tainted salmon controversy

Oceana on Friday added its voice to a growing list of environmental NGOs demanding government action over the apparent discovery in Taiwan of a banned chemical – Malachite Green – in farmed salmon shipped from Chile.

“Chilean law prohibits the use of this chemical here, but at the same time allows exports to those countries that don’t outlaw Malachite Green. This just shows how urgent it is that the regulations be updated,” said Cristián Gutiérrez, head of Oceana’s farmed salmon campaign.

Gutiérrez’ comments come in the wake of an article published last weekend by an online news source called the China Post. According to the article, Taiwanese health authorities recently discovered traces of Malachite Green in a 523-kilogram shipment of Chilean salmon. A potentially carcinogenic chemical used traditionally as an anti-fungal drug, Malachite green is prohibited in numerous countries, including Chile and Taiwan (ST, Sept 26).

The salmon in question was imported by a local Costco branch and arrived in Taiwan on Sept. 14. For now the tainted fish remains in customs. The China Post did not reveal the specific origin of salmon.

Oceana is demanding that Chilean authorities investigate the matter and determine both where the salmon was raised, and which of the various salmon companies operating here was responsible for using the banned substance.

“The government and producers’ association must make public the name of the company involved, as well as announce what measures they plan to take to substantially improve health monitoring of Chilean salmon in order to avoid another case of this nature,” Oceana stated in a press release.

Oceana’s comments come just two days after another Chilean NGO, Ecoceanos, also called for government action on the matter (ST, Sept. 28). “Together with artisan fisher groups, as well as national and international consumers, we demand that the Chilean government carry out an investigation and bring charges against those irresponsible companies that continue to systematically violate the law. (The companies) are polluting the nation’s valuable aquatic ecosystems and putting the health of international consumers at risk,” Ecoceanos announced.

A third NGO, Washington D.C.-based Pure Salmon Campaign, has spoken out on the issue as well. “This is an illegal substance we’re talking about. It’s not an antibiotic. It’s not a substance that is legally approved the government, but rather one that’s illegal… The government should take all the legal measures available to it,” Cristián Perez, the Campaign’s Chile representative, told the Patagonia Times.

This is certainly not the first time Chilean salmon has been found to contain banned chemicals. Earlier this year Chilean salmon producers ran into trouble when health officials in Great Britain found a shipment of Chilean salmon to contain Crystal Violet, another illegal substance used to treat fungi and parasites (ST, March 2). And on several occasions between 2003 and 2004, Dutch authorities complained about the presence in Chilean salmon of Malachite Green, which at the time was banned in Western Europe but was not yet prohibited in Chile (ST, Sept. 28, 2004).

By Benjamin Witte (benwitteATsantiagotimes.cl)