Asian Seafood Raised on Pig Feces Approved for U.S. Consumers (Poop-Corn Shrimp)

[TalkingDog]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-11/asian-seafood-raised-on-pig-feces-approved-for-u-s-consumers.html

“The manure the Chinese use to feed fish is frequently contaminated with microbes like salmonella,” says Doyle, who has studied foodborne diseases in China.

On a sweltering, overcast day in August, the smell of excrement is overpowering. After seeing dead fish on the surface, Chen, 45, wades barefoot into his murky pond to open a pipe that adds fresh water from a nearby canal. Exporters buy his fish to sell to U.S. companies.

Yang Shuiquan, chairman of a government-sponsored tilapia aquaculture association in Lianjiang, 200 kilometers from Yangjiang, says he discourages using feces as food because it contaminates water and makes fish more susceptible to diseases. He says a growing number of Guangdong farmers adopt that practice anyway because of fierce competition.

“Many farmers have switched to feces and have stopped using commercial feed,” he says.

[Kingofalldems]

1. Sounds yummy!

Not.

[sadbear]

2. Yum.

[Agnosticsherbet]

3. Poop has been used for thousands of years as a fertilizer to grow crops..

My back yard is healthy on a diet of water, dog urine, dog feces, and worm crap.

I can buy Cow manure for fertilizer for my garden.

In San Diego, they have an experiment where gray water from toilets is purified in lilli ponds.

A system of using pig crap in that way is more sustainable than factory processed feeds.

I do have a problem with Salmonella and a better system of testing should be instituted on imported foods.

[TalkingDog]

5. The difference: Dirt and roots are better filters

And chemically they help in breaking down pathogens. Cow feces is allowed to "mature" before being put on your plants, otherwise the high nitrogen content would "burn" the plants. The "maturing" often includes temperature extremes that help kill pathogens.

Pig feces is particularly dangerous because of how easily porcine diseases are spread to humans.

Unlike the plants, which have the various buffers discussed above, fish and shrimp are ingesting the pathogens and becoming infected. Then they are shipped directly to your local WalMart, where low, low prices are everyday!

[Lint Head]

4. Human feces was used in some other countries as fertilizer. Rich people's feces was considered

better because they had better diets. Per Wiki.

[TalkingDog]

6. See my reply above. Got nothing against the use of feces as fertilizer.

Fish ain't plants.

[DonViejo]

8. And still used in China where it is referred to as

"night soil."

BTW, Just what do folks think shrimp, lobster and crabs eat while living in their natural habitats? It ain't filet mignon.

[Lint Head]

10. Shrimp, lobsters, crabs and catfish are bottom feeders

You are what you eat.

[DonViejo]

11. Which draws to mind an old zinger used

when I want to describe someone I don't think very highly of, e.g., Mitt Romney is lower than whale shit.

[Lint Head]

15. LOL!

[HockeyMom]

7. I don't eat Gulf Shrimp anymore

So I guess I will have to stop eating shrimp, period.

[bluestate10]

14. Good idea to stop eating shrimp period.

Few foods, other than bacon are more damaging to your longterm health.

[woodsprite]

9. They've been using chicken waste for years here in the states

It started being used for a feed in aquaculture, now it's being used to make feed for cattle as well. Just google chicken waste fish, and you'll come up with tons of hits.

[Quantess]

12. Gross!

[HereSince1628]

13. My guess would be that ain't kosher.