More catfish recalled in the US

Due to confusion over United States catfish inspection regulations, another U.S. importer is recalling catfish.

Los Angeles, California-based Crab House Trading Corp. is recalling 36,040 pounds of frozen “yellow walking fish” that were produced without the benefit of federal inspection, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said in a press release.

“It surprised us, big time,” Jose Benitez, operations manager for Crab House, told SeafoodSource. The recalled fish from Vietnam “is not the type grown and sold in the U.S. We don’t consider it catfish,” Benitez said.

Plus, the fish had already been inspected by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Crab House was “not aware that it had to go through the USDA inspection,” Benitez said.

The rash of both wild and farmed catfish recalls in the U.S. since the beginning of this year may be caused by confusion over which regulatory agency oversees catfish inspections. More than a year after a controversial regulation shifting inspections of all siluriformes (catfish) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to the FSIS went into effect, many catfish importers – and some domestic suppliers – remain unaware of the change.

In Crab House’s case, it recalled various vacuum-sealed packages labeled “TRIPLE PEARL HEADLESS-CLEANED YELLOW WALKING FISH CA TRE VANG LAM SACH – CAT DAU”. The best before dates may be 20210203 or 20201225 or no date at all, according to FSIS.

The frozen catfish was shipped to distributors in California, Benitez said.  

“FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers’ freezers. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase,” FSIS said.

The problem was discovered by FSIS during follow-up surveillance activities, the agency said. 

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consuming the products, the agency said.

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