Fish Contaminated with Cancer Causing Chemical

A group of researchers from NC State University and entrepreneurs have developed an inexpensive instant test for formaldehyde on food. When  found that about a fourth of the fish they bought at chain grocery stores contained unacceptable levels of the suspected carcinogen.

The formaldehyde was found only on some of the fish imported from China and South Vietnam. It was not found on fish produced in the United States, South America or India.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said this summer that about 15 percent of the food Americans eat comes from abroad, but only 1 percent to 2 percent of imported foods are inspected. The FDA has focused largely on preventing the spread of foodborne illnesses caused by pathogens such as bacteria rather than chemical contamination..

The formaldehyde test was developed for consumer advocacy groups in Bangladesh, Attar said, where formaldehyde is sometimes added to foods to prevent the growth of bacteria in the absence of proper refrigeration.

The test Attar that Morton and Swartz developed is a quick, cheap alternative. A swab about a half-inch square that can be rubbed over a sample of fish, for instance, and will indicate the presence of formaldehyde by turning pink or purple in two to three minutes. This product could help the FDA do their job.

So far, the company has sold and shipped 100,000 of the swabs to Bangladesh, They expect orders from China and South Korea. Customers can find the product on the company's website, www.formaldehydetests.com . The one-time swabs will cost about $1 each, Attar said.

While developing the swabs, the researchers bought randomly selected fish from chain grocery stores around Raleigh, N.C. They tested the fish first to establish control levels of formaldehyde, so they could see how the swabs performed once formaldehyde was added.

But some of the fish tested positive right away, before the chemical was added.

The team bought additional samples and did more tests, with similar results, over a period of months, they said.

NOAA Fisheries, an arm of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, says that in 2011, the U.S. imported about 91 percent of the seafood it consumed. That year, Americans ate 15 pounds of fish and shellfish each, NOAA Fisheries says, a total of nearly 5 billion pounds, making the U.S. second only to China in seafood consumption.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified formaldehyde as a known human carcinogen, associated with nasopharyngeal cancer, leukemia and other cancers. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said it is a probable carcinogen. Some studies indicate it may be linked to birth defects in babies whose mothers had high exposures.

Made of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, formaldehyde is a volatile organic compound created naturally by people, plants and animals during normal metabolic processes. It's also a byproduct of combustion, emitted by cars and trucks, and is produced by burning wood and cigarettes.

Formaldehyde is used to kill parasites that attack fish. when fish are grown in fish farms they need a lot of chemicals and antibiotics to keep the fish healthy.

Picture was from Wikipedia