One bottle cap and live fish instantly go limp! CCTV exposé: Vendors feed live fish "unlabeled" anesthetics, aquatic market managers turn a blind eye

Source: Nanguo Jinbao

On the evening of March 22, CCTV broadcast an undercover report titled “Anesthetized Live Fish,” revealing that in several seafood markets in Chongqing, Linyi (Shandong), and Suzhou (Anhui), there are secret practices of using substances such as clove phenol, industrial alcohol, and甲盐 to make live fish “hibernate.”

After the program team handed over the materials to the State Administration for Market Regulation, the agency, in coordination with the Chongqing Market Supervision Administration and the Linyi Market Supervision Administration in Shandong, simultaneously launched investigations and measures.

At the Lebang Seafood Market in Chongqing, a large number of live fish transported over long distances arrive in a “hibernating” state, lying quietly in the water as if dead. After oxygenation, they quickly recover, with vendors uniformly claiming the fish are “sleeping.” During transportation, reporters saw workers adding a bottle cap of “Yuhu Bao,” a fish sedative, into buckets of live fish. After stirring the liquid, the lively fish instantly became quiet and limp.

These liquids are all “three-no” products—without production date, manufacturer, or license. Vendors said that adding anesthetics during live fish transportation is for convenience in loading and unloading, and to prevent fish scales from falling off during transit. It is known that the highly toxic and carcinogenic malachite green was banned as early as 2002 and has largely disappeared from the market, but products like “Dizziness Fish King” and “Fish Peace”—mainly composed of clove phenol—are quietly reappearing as “three-no” products.

Medically, long-term and large-scale use of clove phenol can damage the liver and kidneys. Special populations such as pregnant women and children should use it cautiously and avoid concurrent use with anticoagulants.

Following the trail northward, reporters found that the Shengqiang Seafood Wholesale Market in Linyi, Shandong, also has cases of using anesthetics for live fish transportation, with some vendors even directly using industrial alcohol. Investigations revealed that industrial alcohol contains highly toxic methanol, which can cause blindness, organ damage, and death if ingested directly. The use of industrial alcohol in food processing is strictly prohibited by national regulations. When combined with “three-no” clove phenol to produce anesthetics and inhaled by live fish, it poses a significant food safety risk.

Market officials told reporters that the market prohibits the use of anesthetics. However, evidence such as open containers of industrial alcohol and large drums of mixed anesthetics displayed openly in the market are ignored by management.

A reporter visited a manufacturer in Ji’an, Jiangxi, that produces clove phenol. The manufacturer admitted that raw materials are imported from Indonesia and are sold under the guise of food additives, then used by fish vendors to anesthetize live fish. Some small workshops purchase raw materials and package them as “three-no” anesthetics for market sale. The manufacturer also informed that it takes at least 48 hours for clove phenol to fully metabolize within fish.

Another factory revealed that to make the anesthetic penetrate and take effect quickly, the simplest method is to mix it with industrial alcohol. At the Bazhong Agricultural Products Logistics Center in Suzhou, the MS-222 anesthetic used here has not been approved for use with edible live fish domestically.

As of now, China has not conducted safety evaluations on whether substances like clove phenol and MS-222 can be used on live aquatic products. Neither of these substances is on the list of approved substances for aquaculture, and there are no regulations on usage doses or residue limits. Market testing options are also nonexistent.

Source | CCTV Finance

At the Lebang Seafood Market in Chongqing, a large number of live fish transported over long distances arrive in a “hibernating” state, lying quietly in the water as if dead. After oxygenation, they quickly recover, with vendors claiming the fish are “sleeping.” During transportation, reporters saw workers adding a bottle cap of “Yuhu Bao,” a fish sedative, into buckets of live fish. After stirring the liquid, the lively fish instantly became quiet and limp.

These liquids are all “three-no” products—without production date, manufacturer, or license. Vendors said that adding anesthetics during live fish transportation is for convenience in loading and unloading, and to prevent fish scales from falling off during transit. It is known that the highly toxic and carcinogenic malachite green was banned as early as 2002 and has largely disappeared from the market, but products like “Dizziness Fish King” and “Fish Peace”—mainly composed of clove phenol—are quietly reappearing as “three-no” products.

Medically, long-term and large-scale use of clove phenol can damage the liver and kidneys. Special populations such as pregnant women and children should use it cautiously and avoid concurrent use with anticoagulants.

Following the trail northward, reporters found that the Shengqiang Seafood Wholesale Market in Linyi, Shandong, also has cases of using anesthetics for live fish transportation, with some vendors even directly using industrial alcohol. Investigations revealed that industrial alcohol contains highly toxic methanol, which can cause blindness, organ damage, and death if ingested directly. The use of industrial alcohol in food processing is strictly prohibited by national regulations. When combined with “three-no” clove phenol to produce anesthetics and inhaled by live fish, it poses a significant food safety risk.

Market officials told reporters that the market prohibits the use of anesthetics. However, evidence such as open containers of industrial alcohol and large drums of mixed anesthetics displayed openly in the market are ignored by management.

A reporter visited a manufacturer in Ji’an, Jiangxi, that produces clove phenol. The manufacturer admitted that raw materials are imported from Indonesia and are sold under the guise of food additives, then used by fish vendors to anesthetize live fish. Some small workshops purchase raw materials and package them as “three-no” anesthetics for market sale. The manufacturer also informed that it takes at least 48 hours for clove phenol to fully metabolize within fish.

Another factory revealed that to make the anesthetic penetrate and take effect quickly, the simplest method is to mix it with industrial alcohol. At the Bazhong Agricultural Products Logistics Center in Suzhou, the MS-222 anesthetic used here has not been approved for use with edible live fish domestically.

As of now, China has not conducted safety evaluations on whether substances like clove phenol and MS-222 can be used on live aquatic products. Neither of these substances is on the list of approved substances for aquaculture, and there are no regulations on usage doses or residue limits. Market testing options are also nonexistent.

Source | CCTV Finance