Lead Stuffed into Thailand's Prawn Heads - World Food Poisoning Risk, Consumer Alert Out by Phairath Khampha 26 February 2002 In a dangerous scam that clearly demonstrates the lengths that cheating, greedy Thai businessmen go to in order to increase profits, the Food and Drug Administration said it would take legal action against Thailand's freshwater prawn merchants who stuff lead into the heads of prawns to increase their weight. There were fears thousands of people could have been poisoned with lead throughout the world because of greedy and corrupt Thai businessmen. Thailand's Secretary-general Vichai Chokevivat said produce and exports markets were selling the prawns, which were considered a contaminated food. People selling them could be fined up to 20,000 baht (only about US$450) or sent to jail. The scam began to be uncovered when restaurant owner at Bang Sai Vocational Art centre in Ayutthaya found pieces of lead in prawns he bought from Chatuchak market. The man had noticed in November 2001 that the weight of his prawns had increased by as much as 13% and this was because they contained lead, and switched to prawns from Bang Khen market, but found the same problem there. The prawns contained a large quantity of lead and were sold for unusually high prices of 780 baht a kilogramme. The news quietly slipped into the internaitonal markets and investigations began. Officials were sent to Thailand to investigate. FDA on February 20, 2002 collected prawn samples from Bang Khen market and sent them for tests. Panya Kiratihathayakorn, the department's deputy director-general, said four out of the six prawns contained lead. ``We found one or two pieces in each prawn. The lead we found is generally used for fishing. Each was about 2.5cm long, weighing 13 grammes,'' he said. Consumers should be aware of lead poisoning and careful when buying prawns. Dr Vichai said the lead usually melts during cooking and thereby making the food toxic to consumers. The acceptable level of lead content was much less, only one ppm (one milligramme per kilogramme.) The toxicity would intensify if the prawns were boiled or heated in a microwave. It could result in acute poisoning, stomach-ache, vomiting, nausea, or even effects on the neurological system. Young children eating such prawns would become permanently mentally impaired. Consumers the world over should examine the heads of prawns imported from Thailand before cooking. The prawns would be safe to eat if the lead was taken out. Public Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said she believed the prawns were caught in Burmese waters and processed in Mae Sot district, Tak prvince. Health officials would inspect city and export markets to see whether freshwater lobsters had also been stuffed. Aw Taw Kaw and Bang Khen markets were also inspected the same day.