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Alabama
Commissioner of Agriculture & Industries Ron Sparks has announced a
Stop Sale of all Vietnamese seafood products in the state of Alabama due
to the possible presence of a banned substance known as fluoroquinolones.
The FDA has identified basa shipped into the United States from Vietnam
that tested positive for the presence of fluoroquinolones, an antibiotic
that the FDA has issued a zero-tolerance policy for in food.
Commissioner
Sparks, working in conjunction with Commissioner Bob Odom of the Louisiana
Department of Agriculture and Forestry ordered the Stop Sale and food
inspectors to immediately start identifying all possible products for
testing. "Our food inspectors are now locating all of the product in
Alabama and taking samples so that diagnostic tests can be performed to
determine if it is contaminated or not," Sparks said.
It
is believed that the contaminated seafood could be in Louisiana and
Mississippi as well.
"This
is something that I have been talking about ever since I took
office." Sparks said. "We can not trust that other countries are
raising and preparing their food at the same high standards that we ask of
our farmers. If the FDA has a zero-tolerance in place, then that means
zero-tolerance and we will do everything in our power to remove it from
the store shelves to ensure the safety of the consumers here in
Alabama." |
