Canadian federal officials have confirmed that farmed salmon with trace amounts of a banned chemical have recently been found on store shelves. The salmon came from a Stolt Sea Farm facility on British Columbia’s East Thurlow Island.The chemical which has been found is called malachite green, a chloride compound once used as a fungicide in hatcheries, but which was banned from the food chain in 1992 after Health Canada produced conclusive evidence that it was carcinogenic.Stephen Jay Stephen, from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), who is investigating the incident says a recall was launched as soon as the chemical was discovered.However, Stephen says public health risk is very small because only a very low level of malachite green was detected.Approximately 36,000 kilograms of tainted fish are believed to have reached the market, and how much of the total was bought by Canadian consumers is not known.
