Certainly we pride ourselves in having a quality product fed wholesome grain ration with vitamins and minerals. There is really no way of knowing what these other fish are being fed. Catfish growers are lobbying to require that imported fish are correctly labeled, and that the country of origin is indicated. Warren said when the public has a way of knowing this is an imported product, it could well make a big difference in its acceptance in the marketplace. Steeby said the Vietnamese product is not the same species as the U.S. catfish.
Current laws allow the imports to be labeled as catfish or under other names.
Steeby agreed there is a need to label the product as imported in order for consumers to know what they are buying. Catfish are the number one aquaculture product in the U.S. with about 600 million pounds of channel catfish processed in 1999. About 360 million pounds were grown in Mississippi. Another issue is a relatively new problem with the trematode parasite, which can infect catfish after being carried in by white pelicans. The problem was first seen in Louisiana three years ago and in southern areas came close to driving a couple of operations out of the business.