​​​In February 2025, the Oregon Trawl Commission developed a white paper outlining its concerns about the use of unapproved antibiotics in imported whitefish, particularly Chinese tilapia, as a resource to inform policymakers, federal agencies, and NGOs and encourage stronger enforcement by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

 

U.S. law prohibits the importation of seafood products that contain traces of antibiotics due to their carcinogenic and genotoxic properties.  However, many Chinese tilapia farmers continue to use unapproved antibiotics (e.g., nitrofurans and sulfadiazine) in producing tilapia destined to the United States to lower their operating costs.  This practice provided Chinese tilapia producers an unfair advantage over its U.S. competitors, such as Oregon’s trawl fishing and seafood processing industry, who is committed to meeting strict food safety and sustainability standards yet is being undercut by cheaper Chinese imports produced with banned antibiotics.

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Tilapia is one of the most popular whitefish in the U.S.  Americans consume approximately 200 million pounds of tilapia each year, 83% of which comes from China.  The OTC underscores the importance of enhancing the FDA’s testing efforts to prevent contaminated Chinese tilapia from reaching American consumers.  

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Specifically, the OTC points to discrepancies between the regulation of Chinese tilapia and Chinese aquaculture more broadly.  For instance, the OTC points out that the FDA determined that shrimp, dace, and eel from China consistently contained unapproved antibiotics and placed a country-wide Import Alert on shipments of these products – a policy that has been in place since 2007.  In comparison, there is no such program in place for Chinese tilapia, despite a 2022 FDA report listing farmed tilapia as having a high potential for “aquaculture drug hazards.”  The OTC highlighted that the FDA’s sampling of tilapia imports has significantly decreased in recent years despite there being no evidence that Chinese tilapia farmers have stopped using unapproved antibiotics.

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The lack of enforcement actions by the FDA means that Americans are at an increased risk of consuming antibiotic-laden tilapia.  To address this issue, the OTC called on the Administration to provide more oversight by working with the FDA to determine the current level of import testing on shipments of Chinese tilapia and conduct more thorough sampling studies to determine whether Chinese tilapia needs to be placed on an Import Alert, limiting imports to only those producers that prove their shipments are in accordance with U.S. food and safety regulations.  

 

The OTC also called on the FDA to determine how it plans to implement recommendations by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to increase foreign facility inspections and ensure the safety of America’s food supply.

 

“Oregon’s fishermen play by the rules because they believe in delivering safe, sustainable seafood to American consumers,” said Yelena Nowak, Director of the Oregon Trawl Commission.  “But without meaningful enforcement of our food safety laws, they’re forced to compete against cheaper, noncompliant seafood imports that erode both public health and the viability of the domestic seafood industry. Stronger FDA oversight would level the playing field and protect the US consumer market.”

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Read the OTC’s FDA white paper here.