I Wonder What's Safe To Eat (Warning: Graphic Details!)

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Just read this article from the Daily Mail (UK) and could not help feeling exasperated from what was being revealed. The article is written by Alex Thomson who made an undercover investigation into the current fish market in UK and made an alarming discovery of what is happening locally in his country. While we like to believe that the authorities are doing everything to control the various safety and health aspects of the seafood supplies, the last thing I'd expect would be some minor infringements with the various departments in the trade. Well, I am grossly wrong. The findings are just simply both shocking and beyond disturbing. Besides the mislabeling of fish types from the various retailers, I have to discredit them for labeling fresh fish which aren't fresh at all. While they may try to be conspicuous with their "May Have Been Frozen Before" on their labels - the article really is a reminder for everyone of us to read the fine print before throwing that packet into our trolleys. Then, there's that disgusting findings on how shrimps are being stored before retail - in the sewage. And, if this is not enough to discourage you from considering this delightful delicacy then I am sure you will when you read further on how these retailers get to prepare scampi for sale. I quote: [u][i]"Traditional scampi simply demands the tails of Dublin Bay prawns, deep fried in that familiar crispy light batter coat. But, of course, life is far from that simple in the fish business. For starters, much of the scampi we eat is actually ‘reformed scampi’. This budget model is made from leftover scraps of prawn put together with that well-known kitchen ingredient — sodium tripolyphosphate. When I tried my hand at making reformed scampi I had to handle this chemical with rubber gloves and a face-mask. On its container you cannot help but notice the ­hazard symbols. Closer inspection reveals warnings about decreased blood pressure, decreased heart rate, skin discoloration, vomiting, diarrhoea and coma if ingested in large quantities."[/i][/u] If you think this is still not disturbing enough since you are not a scampi fan, then don't bat your eyelids. It is clear that Europe is a big consumer of shrimps or prawns with fifty thousand tons each year pour into the EU and part of it is actually farmed in Bangladesh. The author then took a trip to find out undercover just how it is being farmed. The result is just even more appalling. Latrines filled with human waste were sited over the sea water canals, whose contents are swept into the prawn pools with every tide and in one of the interviews with a prawn farmer revealed that he routinely doused his pool with a pesticide known as Thiodan, to keep disease down among his prawn stocks. FYI Thiodan contains Endosulfan, a substance which is banned in more than 50 countries worldwide, including in the EU where ingestion in large quantities is linked to numerous human health risks, including paralysis and birth defects. I just have to shake my head here because I am wondering how such an oversight can happen. The EU which boasts of their stringent regulations and inspections, with teams working across all the countries from which food is being imported and giving an assuring view of well-regulated industries BUT at the end of the day is appallingly lacking. How is it so? If this "standard" is being accepted by the EU, then wouldn't other countries that uses EU as their benchmark be grossly affected and most of all, CHEATED? So, what do you think is safe to eat at the end of the day? My goodness, I must admit that I've lost my appetite for dinner tonight. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1347261/Fresh-fish-The-VERY-unsavoury-truth-prawn-cocktail--supposedly-fresh-fish-supermarket-counter.html