Tuna guidelines to rule out death by poisoning
Angela Xu
2005-12-17 Beijing Time
YOU can slice them, dice them or smack them over the head with a
hammer, just don't kill that tuna fish with carbon monoxide.

New standards for the processing of tuna fish will be enacted by the
Ministry of Agriculture next year.

The rules are expected to end the practice of gassing fish to kill them
while retaining their pink color.

Wu Jiale, a tuna fish expert a Shanghai Fisheries University, says he
has finished drafting the standards and they have passed an expert
appraisal.

The rules state that tuna factories must be colder than 10 degrees
Celsius during any processing of fish to be used to make sashimi.

In addition, no carbon monoxide should be used to keep the fresh color
of the fish. The content of carbon monoxide in every kilogram of fresh
tuna fish should be no more than 200 micrograms.

"This means all tuna fish that are killed by carbon monoxide won't meet
the standard," said Huang Baoshan, deputy director of the ocean fishery
branch of the China Fishery Association.

Carbon monoxide not only prevents the fish from losing their pink
color, it also means producers don't have to refrigerate the tuna at
super low temperatures.

Any tuna kept in refrigeration for more than a few days must be chilled
to minus 55 degrees Celsius.

"Carbon monoxide can keep the fish fresh in the short time but not for
long," said Gao Xuexiang, an officer with the Shanghai Fishery Office.
"It will, however, harm people's health."

Wu said carbon monoxide also makes it difficult for people to tell
between fresh fish and rotten tuna.

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