Outlaw Ocean report: ethoxyquin, the fishmeal fire preventive, carries cancer concerns

Left · 2An investigation by Ian Urbina of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a news organisation in Washington, D.C., says the chemical that stopped fishmeal from catching fire on ships is a carcinogen that has entered the farmed-seafood food chain. 1 2 Left · 2Fishmeal is a dark yellow powder made by drying and pulverising fish. If untreated, it can combust spontaneously as it decays and oxidises. The report cites three fires in early 1966: a South African ship that burned for five days in Bristol, a Liberian steamship that ignited petrol barrels near Rotterdam and sank, and a Danish ship off Long Beach, California, where a longshoreman was killed. 1 2 Left · 2According to the Outlaw Ocean Project's sweep of historical news coverage, fishmeal was tied to at least 90 ship and plant fires from the 1950s through the 1970s. 1 2

Left · 2In 1967 the American feed producer Cargill announced ethoxyquin as a solution. The chemical had previously been used to keep rubber tires from drying out and as a preservative on fruit and alfalfa. Press-reported fires fell from a typical 16 ship fires a year, per the Liverpool Underwriters Association, to five by the 1970s. 1 2 Left · 2In 1976 the U.S. Coast Guard made ethoxyquin treatment mandatory for fishmeal shipments. Three years later the United Nations maritime body recommended it "to prevent spontaneous combustion." 1 2 Left · 2Health concerns appeared early and have continued. A 1969 U.N. food and agriculture paper noted toxic effects in laboratory animals fed high concentrations. A 1987 British study found "severe damage" and a potentially "carcinogenic effect" in rats. In 2015 the European Food Safety Authority said an impurity, p-phenetidine, could cause genetic mutations. 1 2

Left · 2The report says there is no scientific consensus on whether eating farmed seafood raised on ethoxyquin-treated feed is safe. The European Commission suspended its authorisation in animal feed in 2017. It is now banned in the U.K. and in European Economic Area members including Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, but is still permitted within limits in Australia, Japan, South Korea and the U.S. 1 2 Left · 2The report says more than half of the seafood eaten worldwide now comes from fish farms, and most farmed species are fed fishmeal and fish oil. 1 2 Left · 2In the U.S., ethoxyquin has been at the centre of about six lawsuits, typically alleging false advertising. In 2022 a class action against Aldi over "sustainable" Atlantic salmon, and a suit against Gorton's over "sustainably sourced" frozen tilapia, both cited the EU ban and risk to aquatic life. Both were settled out of court. 1 2

Left · 2In Canada, the Food Inspection Agency requires a label on feeds containing ethoxyquin but does not specify how it tests for the chemical, and inspectors do not check whether it ends up in seafood, according to its 2022 report. A 2024 EU audit found the agency completed only about 40 percent of planned inspections, citing "systematic and significant under-delivery" in seafood testing. 1 2 Left · 2Cargill said in a statement that it has assessed alternative antioxidants since 2005. It said it no longer uses ethoxyquin in its global salmon feed business or in any market where it is not authorised in aquafeed, and that it did not develop the chemical. 1 2 Left · 2James Frank, managing director of the Peruvian fishmeal company MSICeres, said in a 2022 webinar that more destinations are refusing ethoxyquin, starting with Peru's local market. He said all Peruvian fishmeal exports to Europe, Canada, the U.S. and Australia are now ethoxyquin-free. Producers have also shifted to natural additives such as rosemary extract and vitamin E compounds. 1 2

Left · 2The most popular alternative is now butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), favoured for lower cost and strong antioxidant properties. The report says BHA has significant health risks of its own. The U.S. National Toxicology Program called it "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen" as early as 1991, and Japanese researchers found malignant tumours in rats in 2008. In February the U.S. FDA announced it was reassessing BHA's safety as a food additive. 1 2 Left · 2The report concludes that the aquaculture and fishmeal industries are in a "perilous loop": from deadly ship fires to a carcinogenic fire retardant, and then to another. 1 2