Pangas fish (Dory Fish)

I received this message from a friend. Though I am not able to verify if this message is true, I would rather play on the safe side and post this message since my children love to eat fish and chips and I tend to buy fillet of Dory.

However, I managed to find an article on "Frozen fish" a Food safety write up by CHIA JOO SUAN.

He said that seafood must be kept chilled or frozen to maintain freshness. Stale seafood has a substance build up known as histamine and these are some of the symptoms of people who are allergic to it:

1) itching on the lips
2) flushes
3) nausea
4) vomiting and hives
5) in severe cases, difficulty in breathing.

These reactions can occur immediately or later after eating stale seafood.

Read his article on how fish freshness are maintained commercially. Note that:

1) marinating fish with salt or sugar slows down the growth of bacteria.
2) Fish treated with carbon monoxide is bright red when first defrosted. So even if the fish has not been kept at temperatures low enough to maintain freshness, the fish would still look good enough to eat when in actual fact, it may have started to deteriorate.

I would love to hear from anyone who can verify this.
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From My InBox:

A lot of the cafes and coffee houses use Dory fish for their fish & chips!

Please share this forwarded article with your family!

It is called Sutchi and I saw many housewives snatching up the fish at
supermarkets as they are really reasonably priced. The fish looks
good but read the article and you will be shocked.

My colleague who deals with seafood confirmed that this is true. This
product is from Vietnam and unless you know the right supplier which
most of us won't, so be safe!


Hi all:

Sutchi is sold in Singapore supermarkets and I've got a stinking
feeling its the same thing!

To be 100% sure that we're not eating Pangas, better not order fish n
chips when eating out!!

Do you eat this frozen fish called Pangas ? France . The French are
slurping up Pangas like it's their last meal of soup noodles. They are
very, very affordable (cheap), are sold in filets with no bones and
they have a neutral (bland) flavor and texture; many would compare it
to cod and sole, only much cheaper. But as tasty as some people may
find it, there's, in fact, something hugely unsavory about it. I hope
the information provided here will serve as very important information
for you and your future choices. Here's why I think it is better left
in the shops (and not on your dinner plates):


1. Pangas are teeming with high levels of poisons and bacteria. (
industrial effluents, arsenic, and toxic and hazardous by-products of
the growing industrial sector, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT
and its metabolites (DDTs), metal contaminants, chlordane-related
compounds (CHLs), hexachlorocyclohexane isomers (HCHs), and
hexachlorobenzene (HCB) ).

The reasons are that the Mekong River is one of the most polluted
rivers on the planet and this is where pangas are farmed and
industries along the river dump chemicals and industrial waste
directly into it. To Note: a friend lab tests these fish and tells us
to avoid eating them due to high amounts of contamination. Regardless
of the reports and recommendations against selling them, the
supermarkets still sell them to the general public knowing they are
contaminated.

2. They freeze Pangas in contaminated river water.

3. Pangas are not environmentally sustainable, a most unsustainable
food you could possibly eat - 'Buy local' means creating the least
amount of environmental harm as possible. This is the very opposite
end of the spectrum of sustainable consumerism. Pangas are raised in
Vietnam .. Pangas are fed food that comes from Peru ( more on that
below ), their hormones ( which are injected into the female Pangas )
come from Chin a . ( More about that below ) and finally, they are
transported from Vietnam to France . That's not just a giant carbon
foot print, that's a carbon continent of a foot print.

4. There's nothing natural about Pangas - They're fed dead fish
remnants and bones, dried and ground into a flour, from South America
, manioc ( cassava ) and residue from soy and grains. This kind of
nourishment doesn't even remotely resemble what they eat in nature.
But what it does resemble is the method of feeding mad cows ( cows
were fed cows, remember? ). What they feed pangas is completely
unregulated so there are most likely other dangerous substances and
hormones thrown into the mix. The pangas grow at a speed light (
practically! ) : 4 times faster than in nature¡Kso it makes you wonder
what exactly is in their food? Your guess is as good as mine.

5. Pangas are Injected with Hormones Derived from Urine - I don't know
how someone came up with this one out but they've discovered that if
they inject female Pangas with hormones made from the dehydrated urine
of pregnant women, the female Pangas grow much quicker and produce
eggs faster ( one Panga can lay approximately 500,000 eggs at one time
). Essentially, they're injecting fish with hormones ( they come all
of the way from a pharmaceutical company in Chin a ) to speed up the
process of growth and reproduction. That isn't good. Some of you might
not mind eating fish injected with dehydrated pee, so if you don't,
good for you, but just consider the rest of the reasons to NOT eat
it..

6. You get what you pay for - and then some. Don't be lured in by
insanely cheap price of Pangas. Is it worth risking your health and
the health of your family?

7. Buying Pangas supports unscrupulous, greedy evil corporations and
food conglomerates that don't care about the health and well-being of
human beings. They only are concerned about selling as many pangas as
possible to unsuspecting consumers. These corporations only care about
selling and making more money at whatever cost to the public.

8. Pangas will make you sick - If ( for reasons in #1 above ) you
don't get immediately ill with vomiting, diarrhea and effects from
severe food poisoning, congratulations, you have an iron stomach! But
you're still ingesting POISON not poisson.

Final important note: Because of the prodigious amount of availability
of Pangas, be warned that they will certainly find their way into
other foods: surimi ( those pressed fish things, imitation crab sticks
), fish sticks, fish terrines, and probably in some pet foods. ( Warn
your dogs and cats and hamsters and gerbils and even your pet fish! )
So, when you do your next round of shopping of frozen fish,
or eating out at cafes / food stalls by choosing fish-&-chips, think twice !!
You have been warned !!!