Over 400 kilograms of toxic yellow croakers purposefully dyed a fresh yellow were seized on Monday at a seafood market in Lianyungang, a port city in east China's Jiangsu Province.

Their seizure comes in the wake of a similar incident at the end of last year, in which fish in Shanghai were dyed a toxic malachite-green. It is widely being seen as yet another serious case of the lack of food safety, once again causing concern to Chinese consumers.

According to Xinhua News Agency reports, local food security inspection officials discovered the batch of toxic croakers during a sudden check Monday of all seafood markets around the city.

They found the fish had been purposefully dyed by some illegal fish sellers with a type of non-edible, toxic industrial pigment to look a fresh yellow to deceive consumers.

The inspectors warned that the toxic pigment could cause detrimental changes to one's organs if eaten.

(CRI February 25, 2007)