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Health authorities will test imported Chinese seafood to check if it is safe after the United States tightened its import regime following revelations of contamination.
The US has stopped seafood shipments from China following tests that found carcinogenic residues from antimicrobial agents in some seafood. The shipments will remain stalled until they are proven free of residues.
Green Party MP Sue Kedgley today called on the Food Safety Authority (NZFSA) to slap similar restrictions on about 900 tonnes of Chinese prawns and shrimps imported into New Zealand each year.
But NZFSA deputy chief executive Sandra Daly today said the authority would conduct its own testing before considering restrictions.
Ms Daly said the authority had last conducted spot testing on Chinese seafood about two years ago and found no problems.
It would conduct new tests in the next few days.
Ms Daly said the levels of substances detected by US testing were very low and other countries such as Canada, Australia and Britain have not matched their restrictions.
Some observers have speculated the restrictions might be related to arguments surrounding market access between the two countries rather than any genuine safety concern.
But Ms Kedgley said the US restrictions were a sign of China's "tainted food scandal" and showed that unsafe food practices in the country were widespread.
New Zealand needed a tighter testing regime and country of origin labelling so consumers could choose whether to buy Chinese produce, she said.
"That the Government fails to test what is now well known around the world to be a widely-contaminated food supply, and refuses to give local consumers the right to identify what food originates in China is an outrage."
China's food laws were inadequate and in urgent need of reform, Mrs Kedgley said.
- NZPA
