Basa fish

Basa fish
Basa fish, Pangasius bocourti
Basa fish Vinh Long market, Việt Nam
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Siluriformes
Family: Pangasiidae
Genus: Pangasius
Species: P. bocourti
Binomial name
Pangasius bocourti
Sauvage, 1880

The basa fish, Pangasius bocourti, is a type of catfish in the family Pangasiidae. Basa are native to the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam and Chao Phraya basin in Thailand.[1] These fish are important food fish with an international market. They are often labeled in North America and Australia as basa fish or bocourti.[2] In the UK, the species is known mainly as river cobbler,[3] with basa also being used on occasion. In Europe, these fish are commonly marketed as pangassius or panga.[4] Other related shark catfish may occasionally be falsely labeled as basa fish, including Pangasius hypophthalmus (iridescent shark) and Pangasius pangasius (yellowtail catfish).

Contents

Body

The body of a basa fish is stout and heavy. The rounded head is broader than it is long, the blunt snout having a white band on its muzzle.

Food and Spawning

Basa fish feed on plants. They spawn at the onset of flood season and the young are first seen in June, averaging about 5 cm by mid-June.[1]

Toxins

There has recently been an unsubstantiated report into high toxin, pesticide and cancer issues concerning Basa from mass farming techniques on the Mekong River in Vietnam.[5] Tests by Asda and Tesco in the UK have found no trace of contaminants.[6] Test from AQIS found trace levels of malachite green but no other contaminants.[7][8][9]

"Catfish War" in the U.S.

In 2002, the United States accused Vietnam of dumping catfish, namely Pangasius bocourti and Pangasius hypophthalmus, on the American market, charging the Vietnamese importers who are subsidized by Vietnam's government of unfair competition.[10][11] With pressures from the U.S. catfish industry, the United States Congress passed a law in 2003 preventing the imported fish from being labelled as catfish, as well as imposing additional tariffs on the imported fish.[12] Under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruling, only species from the family Ictaluridae can be sold as true catfish.[13] As a result, the Vietnamese exporters of this fish now label their products sold in the U.S. as basa fish or bocourti.[14][15]

At the height of the "catfish war," U.S. catfish farmers and others were describing the imported catfish as an inferior product. However, researchers at the Mississippi State University show that in their experiment, imported basa were preferred in a taste test 3-to-1.[16]

Mascot

P. bocourti, known in Thai as pla mong, is the mascot of Nakhon Phanom Games, a regional multi-sport event in central Thailand in October 2006.[17]

Basa in the UK

Basa has become fairly common in the UK under the name Vietnamese river cobbler, mainly being sold through the large supermarkets in both fresh and frozen forms. It is marketed as a cheaper alternative to traditionally popular white fish, such as cod or haddock. Young's Bluecrest use it in some of their frozen fish products, choosing to use the name basa instead of cobbler.

It has also been stated by UK Trading Standards officers that cobbler is being fraudulently sold as cod by some fish and chip retailers in order to capitalise on the large difference in the wholesale price between the two i.e. cobbler costs less than half the price of cod. This practice was highlighted by the successful prosecution of two retailers (using DNA evidence) one in July 2009 and another in April 2010.[18][19]

Kashrut of Basa

The basa fish does have both fins and 'easily removable' scales and therefore the fish is kosher; however, catfish is not a kosher fish. Basa is more akin to the grouper family when dealing with issues of kashrut.[citation needed] However, according to http://www.kashrut.com/articles/fish/ Basa is not kosher.

References

  1. ^ a b Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2007). "Pangasius bocourti" in FishBase. March 2007 version.
  2. ^ "CFIA Fish List". Canadian Food Inspection Agency. 7 July 2010. http://active.inspection.gc.ca/scripts/fssa/fispoi/fplist/fpresults.asp?lang=e&q=Pangasius%20bocourti&cmbIn=s. Retrieved 30 June 2011. 
  3. ^ Labelling (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2006 "Fish Labelling (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2006". COT. 26 May 2007. http://www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/fishlabellingria2006.pdf/Fish Labelling (Amendment) (England) Regulations 2006. Retrieved 22 July 2009. [dead link]
  4. ^ "Vietnam catfish farmers angered by French reports". Monsters and Critics. 19 May 2008. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/europe/news/article_1406190.php/Vietnam_catfish_farmers_angered_by_French_reports. Retrieved 31 January 2009. 
  5. ^ Report alluding to accusations from CallanderMcdowell
  6. ^ BBC Watchdog report
  7. ^ Food Standards Australia Report 2005
  8. ^ Review of Provisions in the Australian New Zealand Food Standards Code as they relate to Imported Seafood, March 2009, from the Australian Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
  9. ^ 'Correct Information About Basa from Seafood Importers Association
  10. ^ Becker, Elizabeth (16 January 2002). "Delta Farmers Want Copyright on Catfish". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9804EED91338F935A25752C0A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 31 January 2009. 
  11. ^ Armstrong, David (8 February 2003). "Food Fight: U.S. accuses Vietnam of dumping catfish on the American market". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2003/02/08/BU87596.DTL. Retrieved 31 January 2009. 
  12. ^ "Catfish by Any Other Name". Time. 25 February 2002. http://www.time.com/time/global/feb2002/articles/catfish.html. Retrieved 31 January 2009. 
  13. ^ "Basa/Swai". SeaFood Business magazine. http://www.dicarlofood.com/productmanual/basa%20swai.pdf. Retrieved 31 January 2009. 
  14. ^ "Buyer's Guide: Basa Catfish". SeaFood Business magazine. November 2001. Archived from the original on 22 March 2007. http://web.archive.org/web/20070322214708/http://www.seafoodbusiness.com/buyguide/issue_basa.htm. Retrieved 31 March 2007. 
  15. ^ Greenberg, Paul (9 October 2008). "A Catfish by Any Other Name". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12catfish-t.html?n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/Subjects/S/Seafood&pagewanted=all. Retrieved 31 January 2009. 
  16. ^ "Vietnam has tastier fish than US: studies". Independent Online. 19 July 2005. http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=qw1121708884768B223. Retrieved 31 January 2009. 
  17. ^ Mascot page (in Thai), Nakhon Phanom Games official website, 6 December 2006
  18. ^ Elliott, Valerie (13 July 2009). "Fish and chip shops accused of selling Vietnamese cobbler as cod". London: Times Online. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/real_food/article6695267.ece. Retrieved 22 July 2009. 
  19. ^ "Chip shop owner admits fish fraud". BBC News. 15 April 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/leicestershire/8622722.stm. Retrieved 26 April 2010. 

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