The Agricultural Department in Washington, last Wednesday, implemented tough new rules in inspecting foreign catfish that enter the country. The new catfish inspection program will go into full effect in March 2016.
The implementation of these rules were made possible by catfish farmers from the south, who've won legislation in 2008 farm law that moved inspections of catfish from the Food and Drug Administration to a more rigorous program. This program will be a part of the Agricultural Department, and will be on its own sector.
Domestic farmers of catfish who support the law call this a safety measure, while Foreign traders see it as a barrier to limit imports. The Domestic trade of catfish in the Nation comes mostly from two states Mississippi and Arkansas.
Senator Thod Cochran of Mississippi said, "The point of this process has been to ensure that the farm-raised catfish served to American families is safe and nutritious. The U.S.D.A. is in the best position to get this done,I am thankful this rule has been published, although it should not have taken seven years."
On the other hand, Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire worried that countries that consumed New England's lucrative exports of fish would respond in kind with their own import barriers. Senator Shaheen added, "This decision to appease a small special interest group puts at risk hundreds of jobs in New Hampshire. These regulations have nothing to do with food safety and are an egregious waste of taxpayer dollars."
Senator Shaheen together with Senator John McCain of Arizona, tried to repeal the rigorous inspection during a meeting on the bill in negotiatign terms, but the repeal was soon held back by determined lawmakers from catfish-producing states.
The foreign trade for catfish is 75% of the market. The domestic catfish industry has been reduced by about 60% from its highest point around a decade ago. About 20% of American catfish farming operations have closed in the years that followed.
In 2010, a new food safety law passed that would increase the number of foreign and domestic inspections by the F.D.A, but the catfish industry and its allies say it is still inadequate.
