China to U.S.: Your Seafood Is Toxic, and We Refuse to Buy It

By: Clare Leschin-Hoar, 12/17/2013

Geoduck clam (Photo: Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

We hate to put it unkindly, but China is not exactly known for its stellar food safety record. Yet, on Dec. 5 Chinese officials stunned the U.S. shellfish industry by banning imports of all wild and farmed bivalves from the coastline that stretches from Alaska to Northern California, after Chinese officials said they found high levels of inorganic arsenic and the toxin that produces paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP).

American officials haven't detected either of those trade deal breakers, but the Chinese say two shipments of wild geoducks—a large burrowing clam known for its long siphon (or neck)—were tested in late November and exceeded health standards. Just why the Chinese government decided to broaden the seafood ban beyond geoducks to halt imports of all bivalves—including other clam species and oysters—from the Pacific Northwest is a mystery. The ban could become a costly problem for states like Washington, which harvests between 5.5 million and 7 million pounds of geoduck annually—with nearly 90 percent of it exported to the Chinese market.

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