Basa Fish; Something else to Poison the Population

Supermarkets are full of ‘Basa’.   Whether called “swai” “bocourti” “river cobbler”, “cobbler”, “pangasius”, “panga”, or any of these with the addition of “catfish” they swamp the shelves.

In 2002,  Vietnam was accused of dumping catfish, which is what the ‘Basa’ is  on the American market.   They argued that as the importers are subsidized by the Vietnam government, constitute unfair competition.

In 2003 the United States passed a law so that the imported fish could not be labelled as catfish and a tariff was imposted.

The United States Food and Drug Administration ordered that only a particular species could be labeled as  catfish.  So that is where the name ‘basa’ comes from.

Several environmental organizations concerned with marine ecosystems have raised concerns about the safeness of  basa.

OceanWise, an environmental organization flagged farmed basa for its potential pollution of ecosystems and interference with wild species.  There is concern as to the safety standards and the biological impact of using wild stock for culturing.

However, bringing in fish from Vietnam, fish that doesn’t have to live up to any standards, whose past and living conditions are unknown, and arrives on our shores as already frozen fillets has to raise question.

Economically, if it is so much cheaper than local fish that local fishermen are going to suffer a slap down.   Healthwise, we can’t know its antecedents.   We don’t even see what it looks like, only the fillets which look like flounder or snapper.

Basa is not kosher, but one wouldn’t realise that, as they don’t see the fish, just the cut up slab.

Having tasted the fish, it needs a lot of work to get a flavour.   It is not particularly tasty, and one has to soak it in coconut milk, then cover it in seasoning, and it takes longer to cook.

Flounder needs only to be washed, a few drops of lime, some seasoning, and it’s fine.  Basa is not.

Too many products from other countries are dumped in 3rd and 4th World countries, without any word or alert.    We walk into supermarkets and assume what we see was caught off our coast, not transported under whatever conditions from where ever, and wrapped and flung on shelves.