'Toxic Tuna' report looks at Thailand's 'cannery row'

[Jim walker]

Quickly we must form a blame committee who will come up with a result as to allow us to blame someone else as this rotten fish being tinned would never happen in Thailand.

[MaxLee]

Dear Australian agriculture officials, you are inofficially categorized as victims for those greedy Tuna factory owners, 'cause you dared to make them lose face,.... be on your guard....

[Paulc01]

It seems a bigger problem might be fake tuna. I don't know how much, if any, responsibility goes to Thai canneries. But if you're experiencing anal leakage, then you might be a victim of fake tuna. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/02/59-of-the-tuna-americans-eat-is-not-tuna/273410/

[taff33]

The Daily Telegraph is a sensationalist rag for the semi-literate and new immigrants with a limited English vocabulary. It actually used to increase in value when used as a fish and chip wrapper but that practice has been discontinued, and the drop in price of toilet tissue has removed the last possible reason to buy it.

OI I bin reding that papor and I fink I am nut illattilate.

[Don Mega]

Dear Australian agriculture officials, you are inofficially categorized as victims for those greedy Tuna factory owners, 'cause you dared to make them lose face,.... be on your guard....

WRONG.

Nothing to do with Australian Agriculture Officials but instead a crappy tabloid newspaper.

The Australian authorities (NSW Food Authority) have cleared the tuna in question. It was not to blame instead it was the salad content of the meal that was eaten.

Scroll back to post #21.

[geriatrickid]

"...including Thai Union Frozen Products, which owns Chicken of the Sea, Bumblebee and other international brands."

I thought Bumble Bee was owned by a British firm, Lion Capital.

And you are correct.

[kblaze]

"...including Thai Union Frozen Products, which owns Chicken of the Sea, Bumblebee and other international brands."

I thought Bumble Bee was owned by a British firm, Lion Capital.

And you are correct.

TUF purchased BumbleBee last month

[mike324]

Perhaps they didn't get the memo that that is how tuna is unloaded at ports most of the time and packing facilities...what did they expect a fish processing plant to smell like? fresh laundry?

[Familyonthemove]

This is such a BS "investigative report". They spent lots of money to fly a couple journalists to Thailand and expected them to come back with something really damning. Instead we get reports of "smelly and messy" tuna rooms. Imagine that, a fish processing plant that SMELLS! Dear God No!

We get pics of what they call "shanty towns" where the workers live. They look nearly the same as any lower-income Thai housing neighborhood I have ever seen.

The tuna cans are unlabelled until orders arrive...oh the horror!!

The conditions are "Hellish" for workers! Wait, in the interview, the worker says he makes USD400 a month. Thats over Bt13k a month - well over the national average! Dear God he gets only 1 day off a week. Oh wait, thats the norm for 90% of workers in Thailand.

And really that pic of the guy with his head covered...lol...what is the point??

"Packed in like a sardines" yet they dont have a single pic showing anything like that. Me thinks it was just a journalist who realllly wanted to use such a clever headline.

If I were TUF, I'd be sending my lawyers at them pronto. They have absolutely nothing to do with the poisoning, are a completely different company and in fact were completely open with the journalists, answering all their questions. They get clumped in with the bad guys and shown in a horrible light despite having done nothing wrong. HOW DARE THEY BUY A FOOTBALL CLUB.

The story might be pretty poor but it was triggered by food poisoning from these factories. They need to lift their game with food handling and or storage hygiene.

The food poisoning that triggered this was a couple of cases and they all ate at the same cafe in Sydney...

But hey guess what. the Tuna was cleared.

http://www.smh.com.au/national/john-bull-tuna-cleared-of-scombroid-poisoning-20150311-140iq2.html

The NSW Food Authority has found the batch of John Bull Tuna linked to the Soul Origin tuna salad food poisoning scare in Sydney to be safe but found the salad to contain nearly 20 times the safe levels of scombroid histamine.

Scombroid or histamine fish poisoning usually occurs when naturally occurring bacteria in certain species of fish produce an enzyme that converts histidine in the fish to histamine, the NSW Food Authority said.

"The safe threshold is 200mg of histamine per kilogram, the tuna salad had 3950 mg per kilogram," a spokesperson for the authority said.

Food Authority test results released to the importer of John Bull Tuna, Victorian company FTA Food Solutions, said "all cans tested from the batch of John Bull tuna supplied to a Sydney café, where a number of people became ill, are all clear and fit for human consumption".

"It is possible for histamine levels to rise due to cross-contamination with histamine causing micro-organisms after a can is opened," an FTA Food Solutions spokesperson said.

Takeaway outlet Soul Origin used John Bull Tuna, a catering brand not available to the public, in its tuna salad, which caused seven people to fall ill from scombroid poisoning.

Symptoms of poisoning include a peppery taste sensation, tingling of the mouth and lips, a skin rash, headaches, dizziness and itching of the skin. In some cases nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea may also occur.

These symptoms appear within 30 minutes to a few hours of eating the contaminated fish. They last for four to six hours, rarely exceed 24 hours, and can be treated with an antihistamine.

Sydney CBD worker Simone du Toit felt ill about 15 minutes after she ate the tuna salad on February 23.

"I felt flushed, hot and my heart started racing. My skin turned red, including the whites of my eyes. I felt shaky and light headed," she said.

Ms du Toit's health improved in four days after taking steroids.

"Following this incident, we changed suppliers and reissued the NSW Food Authority handling guidelines to all our stores. We serve 40,000 customers each week and our staff are committed to serving the highest quality products," a Soul Origin spokesperson said.

The Food Authority referred the scombroid cases to the Department of Agriculture, which issued holding orders for consignments of tuna and mackerel products from Thailand's I.S.A Value Co Limited, which produces John Bull Tuna.

"Under the holding orders, each consignment of canned tuna and mackerel products will be held in a place to be approved by an authorised officer until it has been inspected, or inspected and analysed, in accordance with the applicable requirements of the Imported Food Inspection Scheme," the department said in a press release.

The department is testing sample cans from each consignment supplied by I.S.A Value Co's factory for histamine.

"There are currently 17 consignments of tuna from the Thai supplier on hold in Australia waiting to be tested, but no test results are available as yet," a department spokesperson said.

FTA Food Solutions has also commissioned a nationally accredited independent laboratory, the Australian Government National Measurement Institute, to undertake independent tests on three different batches of John Ball tuna it currently holds.

"Unopened cans of the same batch of John Bull Tuna in Sunflower Oil used by the café in question, as well as two additional batches, were found to meet stringent quality standards, meaning the tuna was fit for human consumption, and came back well within the food safety requirements," the company said in a press release.

The company said I.S.A Value Co had also conducted tests following the scombroid scare in Sydney and said its products met quality standards.

"We would like to pass on our sympathy to the patrons of the café who have been affected by the recent outbreak and we hope that they have made a full recovery," FTA Food Solutions' director Rob Burgess said.

"We are extremely disappointed with the initial statements and media commentary that indicated John Bull Tuna had high levels of histamine when the test results indicate this is not the case."

"I.S.A Value Co. produces 250 tonnes of canned fish per day from their plant where the tuna is processed in Thailand and has an excellent food safety record."

The Department of Agriculture Import records also indicated I.S.A Value Co's tuna "has had a good history of test compliance and was on the reduced rate of inspection".

Thanks for posting the update from the Aussie newpaper.

But the report of the Tuna being cleared is a bit odd. The comment about cross contamination to the salad and histamine producing bacteria is very unlikely to be the cause. Tuna (or another Scombroid fish such as mackerel) is by far the most likely cause and it's related to poor temperature control of the fish before canning.

It's also well know (except in Australia apparently) that histamine levels in tuna are in patches within the fish and vary from fish to fish - so the customers could easily have eaten tuna from a bad batch and then then tests were taken on good batches. The tuna in the salad may have come from a totally different supplier - or as another poster has said - it may not even have been tuna at all.

[seajae]

just look at the fish, they are not fresh but old and lying on the floor, not even in ice bins to keep it fresh, dried skin, shrunken eyes etc, wouldnt feed this to a cat but then what can we expect from a business wanting to make profits, have cut something and it looks like it was the quality and sanitary conditions, this is disgusting

Yes, just look at it, but look at it properly, with your specs on.

This is probably fish that has been dumped, not fish that is about to be processed, as it all seems to be in plastic bags and it is outside the plant. It's very unlikely that a wholesaler would be supplying fish in those bags.

I am looking at it with my glasses on, it has been frozen and is thawing out ready to be used, the yellowing of some parts of the fish indicate this as do other various things. You do not freeze rotten fish then let if thaw out on the factory floor before you toss it, maybe you should try putting your brain into gear before opening your mouth

[Prbkk]

There is a program on TV5monde now about the canned tuna industry, not specifically about Thailand but it's getting a few mentions re slave labour, unsustainable fishing, poor hygiene