FDA banned Chinese catfish imports

Normally, the catfish thrashing the water as they gulp down their feed at Sun Zhongren's fish farm in this idyllic corner of southern China would have ended up on American dinner tables. From the net cages in this reservoir, they would have been taken to be skinned, gutted, and filleted on a production line at the Baiyang fish-packing plant in nearby Nanning. But that line, installed earlier this year, has been idled by the latest health scare surrounding Chinese exports.

The US Food and Drug Administration last week effectively banned Chinese catfish imports, citing contamination with carcinogenic medicine and unacceptable antibiotic residues. The US ban on several varieties of fish comes after a number of export safety scandals involving products such as fruit juices, toothpaste, toy trains, and tires, which have tattered the reputation of China's inspection regime. Now, Baiyang and other top catfish producers are striking out on a novel route that could offer a solution for other export products: They are asking a Swiss inspection and certification company to vouch for the safety of their food.