Health Ministry Issue Alert For Tainted Tilapia From China
In less than a week since the Ministerio de Salud detected toxic toothpaste in Costa Rican stores and sent out the alert for tainted tilapia fish imported from China, said yesterday the ministra de Salud María Luisa Ávila.

Avila said that her office received information of the presence of contaminated Tilapia from China in Costa Rica.

"We have found that a tilapia imported from China is contaminated with a fish called pez globo" (puffer fish), said Avila.

The minister said that her officials are investigating if the fish is already in Costa Rican stores.

The U.S. issued an alert last Friday when two people, who ate soup with the imported fish labeled as monkfish, were hospitalized, one with severe illness due to the presence of mortally dangerous levels of tetrodotoxin - the poison found in puffer fish.

The fish was imported in the U.S. by the Santa Fe, California company, Hong Chang Corp.

Minister Avila added that her inspectors are also looking into Chinese made toys like stuffed teddy bears that are suspected of being contaminated with bacteria.

The alert, said minister Avila, is not only for the tainted toothpaste but also for the tilapia fish and stuffed toys imported from China.

"The Ministerio de Salud is examining all of these types of products for the security of Costa Ricans and there is no risk and also to take the products off the market", said Avila.

The tainted toothpaste is being marketed under the brand names "Mr Cool" and "Genial". The health minister said that the products were smuggled into the country, labeled as toothbrushes so that the shipment could avoid customs and health controls.

In China, a Beijing court sentenced to death the former director of the State Food and Drug Administration in China, Zheng Xiaoyu, for accepting bribes and dereliction of duty and taking more than $832,000 in cash and gifts, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Zheng Xiaoyu was fired in 2005, expelled from the communist party earlier this year and was recently convicted of corruption after serving as head of the FDA for seven years. Xiaoya could get the sentence reduced on appeal.

An antibiotic okayed under Zheng was withdrawn from the market last year after 10 patients died and six types of fake drugs were approved while he led the agency, according to state-run media.

A Beijing court said Zheng, 62, "sought benefits" for eight pharmaceutical companies by approving their drugs and medical devices, Xinhua reported. His actions "greatly undermined … the efficiency of China's drug monitoring and supervision, endangered public life and health and had a very negative social impact," the court said.