Cheng Huei-wen, director-general of the DOH's Bureau of Food Sanitation, said the problematic 20-ton shrimp shipment was imported by a local company in Taoyuan County. The bureau has requested that the Taoyuan County government investigate the whereabouts of this lot of shrimp and ask sellers to recall the remaining ones.
Cheng said the drug is used in humans as a bacteriostat. It has no serious impact to human health though it might cause gastrointestinal discomfort, allergies or crystaluria.
The Council of Agriculture prohibits the use of the drug in raising animal and fish farming in order to prevent drug resistance from arising in humans after eating foods containing drug residues over a long period, Cheng said.
The Department of Health probing flow of illicit Chinese shrimps
TAIWAN - A shipment of frozen white shrimp imported from China in June has been found to contain Enrofloxacin, an illicit antibiotic in animal husbandry and fish farming, with much of the shipment believed to have been sold to consumers, a Department of Health (DOH) official said yesterday.