Live Fish in Multiple Locations Being "Fed" Anesthetics! Industrial Alcohol Involved! CCTV Exposé

(Source: Tianjin Daily)

Reprinted from: Tianjin Daily

According to CCTV Finance, after more than two months of investigation across multiple provinces and cities, reporters visited aquatic markets, production companies, and restaurants. They conducted undercover investigations at various stages of live fish circulation and uncovered a secret method used to “sleep” live fish.

At Chongqing Lebang Aquatic Market, a large number of long-distance transported live fish arrive in a “dormant” state, appearing as dead fish in the water. After oxygenation, they quickly recover, and vendors uniformly call this “sleeping.” During transportation, reporters saw workers adding a bottle cap of “Fish Guard” tranquilizer to the buckets holding live fish. After stirring the liquid, the lively fish instantly become quiet and limp.

All these liquids are “three-no” products—no production date, no manufacturer, no production license. Vendors claim that adding sedatives during live fish transportation makes handling easier and prevents fish scales from falling off. It is understood that although the highly toxic and carcinogenic malachite green was banned in 2002 and has largely disappeared from the market, “drowsy fish king” and “fish safety treasure,” which mainly contain eugenol, have quietly appeared.

Medically, long-term large doses of eugenol can damage the liver and kidneys. Special populations such as pregnant women and children should use it cautiously and avoid concurrent use with anticoagulants.

Tracking northward, reporters found that in the Shengsheng Seafood Wholesale Market in Linyi, Shandong Province, the use of anesthetics in live fish transportation is also prevalent. Some vendors even directly use industrial alcohol. Investigations revealed that industrial alcohol contains highly toxic methanol, which can cause blindness, organ damage, and death if ingested directly. The use of industrial alcohol in food processing is strictly prohibited by national regulations. The anesthetic mixture made with industrial alcohol and “three-no” eugenol, when inhaled by live fish, poses a significant food safety risk.

Market management officials told reporters that the market does not permit the use of sedatives. However, evidence such as open containers of industrial alcohol and large barrels of mixed sedatives displayed openly in the market is ignored by authorities.

Reporters visited a manufacturer in Ji’an, Jiangxi, that produces eugenol. The manufacturer admitted that raw materials are imported from Indonesia and are marketed as food additives but are used by fish vendors to anesthetize live fish. Some small workshops purchase raw materials and package them as “three-no” sedatives for market sale. The manufacturer informed that eugenol takes at least 48 hours to fully metabolize within fish.

Another factory revealed that to ensure rapid penetration and effect of the anesthetic, the simplest method is to mix it with industrial alcohol. At the Suzhou Bada Agricultural Products Logistics Center, the MS-222 anesthetic used here has not been approved for use with edible live fish domestically.

As of now, China has not conducted safety evaluations on the use of anesthetics like eugenol and MS-222 on live aquatic products. Neither of these substances is on the list of approved substances for aquaculture, and there are no regulations on usage doses or residue limits. Market testing options are also nonexistent.

Source: CCTV Finance

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