Several mainland Chinese fish farms selected by authorities to provide Hong Kong with safe freshwater fish either don't exist or are dried pools slated for urban development, local media reported Wednesday.
HONG KONG — Several mainland Chinese fish farms selected by authorities to provide Hong Kong with safe freshwater fish either don't exist or are dried pools slated for urban development, local media reported Wednesday.
The news came amid a major scare about the safety of freshwater fish imported from the mainland. Some of the fish have tested positive for malachite green -- a possibly cancer-causing chemical that farmers use to fight infections in fish.
Mainland officials provided a list of 18 fish farms in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong that were supposed to be raising safe fish. But the list didn't have detailed addresses or contact information, the Ming Pao Daily reported.
Hong Kong health officials were not aware of the situation and only received confirmation from the mainland late Tuesday, said Sally Kong, a government spokeswoman.
Media investigations revealed that one selected farm could not be found and villagers claimed they have never heard of it. Another farm on the list has long gone out of business to make way for the construction of a factory, the paper said.
!ADVERTISEMENT!
"The water level in the fish ponds is only ankle-high. How could we supply fish to Hong Kong?" a villager was quoted by the South China Morning Post as saying.
The daily said four of the operating farms had not been inspected by authorities this year and did not know they had been selected.
Hong Kong health chief York Chow said officials will visit the farms shortly to inspect the farms' environment and produce.
Kong, a spokeswoman for the Health, Welfare and Food Bureau, said Shenzhen authorities confirmed to the bureau late Tuesday that one of the designated farms have gone out of business without notifying authorities.
Source: Associated Press
