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Recently, there have been massive recalls linked to tainted ingredients in pet food, toothpaste and toy trains that came from China, but U.S. consumers are also likely to encounter Chinese seafood.

In the past 13 months, at least two dozen shipments of catfish, eel and tilapia from Meihua were rejected for entry into the USA by the Food and Drug Administration, FDA records show. The products were rejected because of actual or suspected contamination that included an anti-fungal that battles fish diseases but isn't allowed by the FDA because it has been shown to increase cancer rates in lab animals.

China has long had more problems with such contaminants than other countries that send seafood to the USA, says William More, director of the U.S.-based Aquaculture Certification Council, which checks the quality of products for commercial seafood buyers. Last year, More visited 60 shrimp plants in 17 countries, including China.

Thursday, the FDA placed broad restrictions on imports of Chinese shrimp, catfish, eel, basa (a type of catfish) and dace (similar to carp). The move came after 25% of the Chinese products the FDA sampled from October through May were found to contain residue of chemicals the FDA doesn't allow in fish. Most are known or suspected carcinogens.

According to preliminary European Union data the FAO analyzed, the EU rejected 117 seafood shipments from China in 2005, down from 225 three years earlier.

In May, the Chinese government banned the Meihua plant from exporting eel or catfish to the USA until it can prove to Chinese officials that its products are clear of disallowed chemicals.

"We are losing money, about $1 million a month," says Meihua boss Zhang Yinhai, 42, a former soldier who once ran a soft-drink firm for the People's Liberation Army.

He says the company's tests have not detected chemical residue and that the state-owned company's 23 fish farmers don't use them. But he says they may have used them previously and that such chemicals still may be in the mud of farm pools.

"Our company's most basic principle is not to harm the consumer," Zhang says. Meihua is still exporting other seafood to the USA, including squid and tilapia.

Some Chinese farmers continue to use the antibiotics because they are cheap and effective, says Carlos Sanchez, import buyer for Beaver Street Fisheries of Jacksonville, Fla., a leading frozen seafood importer.

CHINA IS TOP SEAFOOD EXPORTER TO USA

The USA imports 81% of its seafood, and China is its top foreign supplier. percentage of U.S. imports from major exporters in 2005, based on volume:

China

18%

Canada

14%

Thailand

14%

Chile

6%

Ecuador

5%

Indonesia

5%

Vietnam

4%

Other

34%

Sources: National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA, Fisheries of the United States, 2005