Antibiotic not widely used by Asia shrimp farms: FAO
Antibiotic not widely used by Asia shrimp farms: FAO
Vissuta Pothong, Reuters, Bangkok
Farmers in Asia have applied the potent chloramphenicol antibiotic to their shrimp beds, but use of the drug is not widespread, a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) official said on Monday.
"We can say that we know that chloramphenicol is used in farms. Shrimp farmers in Asia have used it," Simon Funge-Smith, an aquiculture and inland fisheries expert at the FAO's regional office in Bangkok, told Reuters.
"Chloramphenicol should not be used (to kill diseases in shrimp farming). However, farmers sometimes use the chemical without appropriate methods and that is due to lack of knowledge or information," he said.
Asian countries including Thailand, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and India are major exporters of shrimps.
Funge-Smith said the use of the drug in shrimp farming in Asia, typically for export, had been reduced over time.
"In my experience, the use of the antibiotic has been reduced very much, or is not used, in farms, especially in Thailand, because there was a lot of awareness raised 7-8 years ago," he said.
Since then, exporters had urged farmers not to use the chemical or at least not in the last month before harvesting, according to Funge-Smith.
European countries scrambled last week to trace animal feed laced with the antibiotic, which can halt production of human blood cells.
German officials say contaminated shrimps from Asia may have found their way into animal feed, sparking new fears about food safety.
Chloramphenicol is used to treat life-threatening diseases such as anthrax and typhoid. But it is restricted to such serious infections because of the risk of it causing a potentially lethal form of anemia.
"Despite the fact that there are some findings (of shrimps contaminated with chloramphenicol), we can say that the usage is not widespread (in Asia), it occurs but does not occur in most cases," Funge-Smith said.
"We do know that European countries are concerned that some countries in Asia may still be using the drug...All I can say is that it is not a common chemical that is used widely."
Importers and buyers would increasingly want to know which farms their shrimps were coming from, he said.
"What will definitely happen as a result of this is that there will be a greater scrutiny of shrimp exports by importing countries."
One way of warding off future problems would be for the industry to join together in adopting common safety standards.
"In some Asian (producing) countries, the shrimp industry is either rather small or not at the stage it yet knows about many of these issues, so there are still chances that bad practice takes place," he added.
"Governments can assist by providing neutral information about chemical usage, good farm management as well as export requirements."