Where and how do they grow pangasius?

Pangasius, or shark catfish, in huge quantities appeared on the shelves about ten years ago and immediately became incredibly popular because of its cheapness. His fillets were prepared at home, ate in canteens, served even in budget cafes and restaurants. And only after a while they began to think: is there not a mousetrap under this tasty and almost free "piece of cheese"? Why such a price? How to grow pangasius, what does it feed and is it not harmful to eat dishes from this fish?

Mekong and surroundings

So, what kind of beast and what it is eaten, the reader must know. But where is he traded? How to grow? Pangasius in Vietnam is almost the main fish product. The Mekong River - its natural habitat - originates in the headwaters of Tibet and feeds on glaciers, and in the lower reaches - rains. The delta of this largest in the Indochina waterway has become home to hundreds of species of creatures and feeds millions of people.

The shark catfish is unpretentious, growing rapidly and literally in fifteen years became the basis of the economy of the southern regions of Vietnam. In one of the villages he even got a monument. Many live right on the river and bred fish for their own food (in nets or baskets under huts on pontoons - in a natural environment). This method is very different from how to grow pangasius for export. To meet the requirements for cleanliness and quality of products, manufacturers have to make extraordinary efforts.

Domestic and foreign markets

The cultivation of pangasius for sale is also carried out by small farms and large industrial enterprises. This happens in artificial reservoirs, and not in the river itself. And although the water in these ponds still gets from the Mekong, in composition and purity it can be very different from the original.

From these factors (where and how fish are grown pangasius) depends on whether it will be sold for domestic consumption or suitable for shipment abroad. But the export option is not the same: to European consumers the fillet gets completely cleared of excess fat, neatly packaged and looks very attractive. We often see on the shelves ice-bound layers of an indefinite color, sometimes without packaging at all. The difference, of course, in the price, and it is considerable.

Where is the truth?

Information on how to grow pangasius fish in Vietnam is quite contradictory: there are frank opponents and ardent defenders of this product. There are also different opinions about the pluses of eating pangasius meat.

Among its useful properties are called high protein content, low caloric content and saturation with fatty and organic acids. At the same time, all the benefits can be negated by the very process of breeding, more precisely, the conditions in which this process takes place. So, what are the features of such a business? Why does this fish cause so much controversy? In what conditions are they bred? How to grow?

Pangasius, the habitat of which - the Mekong River, as already mentioned, is an object of trade and enjoys considerable demand. Still would! The fish is delicious, it is prepared quickly, it benefits the body ... Stop! The last point causes many many doubts. Why? Because the river water poisoned with chemical and organic waste can make any product poison. They are opposed by opponents: but unless the Mekong is dirty? Because "the truth is always around," we'll try to find out.

Opinion "against"

Mekong - a river terribly littered. In addition to the incredible amount of domestic and industrial waste and wastewater, it is full of poisonous substances that were abundantly sprayed over Vietnam during the war. How to grow pangasius in such mud?

Since the shark is omnivorous, feed it than it is necessary, up to the feces. To accelerate the growth of fish are stuffed with antibiotics, hormones and still no one knows what toxic muck. To increase the weight, carcasses are washed in polyphosphates, which help absorb moisture. Because of this, most of the finished product is water from the same Mekong. During the delivery from the place of production to the place of sale, the fillet can be defrosted several times and frozen again, which does not add freshness to it. At the processing factories, terrible unsanitary conditions reign, the fish is teeming with parasites.

The opinion "for"

If the Mekong is so polluted, how does the huge number of animals, birds and insects survive and feel great there? Since the war, enough time has passed for nature to recover, and debris is carried by the current into the ocean. In addition, in dirty water, the fish would simply perish. In occasion of omnivorousness: pigs also eat everything. A favorite of many crayfish, which are so tasty for beer, eat carrion. So what? And then, in Vietnam, thousands of tons of pangasius are produced. How to get so much edible rubbish? Parasites can be in any fish. For this, there is a heat treatment. Antibiotics are pricked and chicken too, but we do not stop eating them.

Reality

Pangasius is exported to many countries of the world, including European ones, which carefully monitor the quality of imported products. In Russia, this is the responsibility of the Rosselkhoznadzor. Periodically, imports are banned due to insufficient quality of the goods. A list of companies that are allowed to import fish such as pangasius into the Russian market is being updated. Where does it grow for export? As a rule, these are quite large producers with HACCP licenses (international food safety management system). Water in ponds and pools is regularly cleaned by powerful filters and saturated with oxygen by means of special aerators. The sanitary condition of these enterprises is at the level of world standards, otherwise it would simply be impossible to see this fish on the shelves of the countries of Europe and the USA.

It feeds on special granules, made mainly from fish waste (heads, bones, takings) enriched with vitamin and mineral supplements. Of course, not everyone has the opportunity to purchase high-quality equipment and feed, so the way pangasius is grown in small farms is sometimes shocking. In a cramped and poorly clean environment, the fish becomes ill, and antibiotics are already being used. But this product has practically no chances to get to foreign markets - it is consumed domestically.

To take or not to take

Pangasius, despite all the myths surrounding him, is an ordinary fish grown on a farm. On the same farms in other countries are bred trout, carp and sturgeon. You can eat it, of course. It is unlikely that the harm from him more than from the same leg, stuffed with medications.

But in doing so, when buying, you must pay attention to several factors:

1. Color. The fillet of yellow color - the lowest grade, indicates that the fish grew in poor conditions; Red - lacked oxygen or fillets were subjected to coloring; Light pink and white - colors that you can more or less trust.

2. If there is a choice, it is better to take the carcass, and not the fillet, since all the fillets imported into Russia are treated with polyphosphates for weight gain. Suppliers claim that this is absolutely harmless and deprives the fish of a specific "river" smell, but who will give a guarantee?

3. Glazing, or glazing. Freezing in a layer of water is a technique used by manufacturers to protect products from weathering, but it should be a thin crust, not a huge block of ice.

4. The amount of fat. The less - the better: a large amount of fat is present in the cheapest, and therefore poor quality goods.

5. The price. And the cost of pangasius is already quite low. Therefore, with the very unrealistic cheapness of buying it is better to abstain - there is a chance to buy a stale goods delivered to the outlet with a violation of storage standards.

Is the place on the table legal?

Despite all the talk about where and how to grow pangasius, reviews about the taste of this fish are mostly positive. Both Russians and residents of other countries, constrained in funds, continue to enjoy buying this inexpensive product. Significant budget savings is one of the main arguments in his favor.

However, there is still something that you should not do exactly:

1. Cook pengasius he, sushi and other dishes that use raw fish.

2. To turn it into the basis of your diet - there is still a risk of acquiring an insufficiently high-quality product, and harmful substances have the property of accumulating in the body. It is not by chance that his import was suspended for the last time only recently - in 2014.

3. Eating pangasius during pregnancy and feeding - a low content of harmful substances that will go unnoticed for an adult organism, the child can cause significant harm.