A tip of the hat is due to Alabama Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Ron Sparks and his team of scientists.

As part of its normal routine, the Alabama lab recently tested fish from China and Vietnam that were marked as having passed tests for fluoroquinolones, an antibiotic used on humans. Sparks' team found that the first tests were either not done well or weren't carried out at all.

Something smelled fishy, and it wasn't the fish.

As a result, Sparks last week extended the two-year ban on the sale of untested fish from those countries in Alabama.

The fish in question is Basa, which has a similar taste to catfish raised in Alabama. But this is not about competition, or at least not primarily. This is a health issue.

Fluoroquinolones is an antibiotic used to kill bacteria in animals, in this case fish. It is also used to treat humans. If it gets into the food chain, it will accumulate in the systems of those who ingest it, which would allow bacteria to build up a resistance to the antibiotic and reduce its effectiveness for treating various illnesses.

In other words, too much fluoroquinolones would mean antibiotics might not help you later.

Noting this, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided not to allow the use of fluoroquinolones in seafood. Alabama followed the FDA's lead. That this helped the state's catfish industry was an extra, though not unintended, bonus.

The fish can still be sold in the state, but it must be tested. That is a good thing.

As long as the state has the capacity to test and regulate the food supply to ensure residents' health, officials should rigorously perform that analysis. And food that is not safe for human consumption should be banned.

It is that simple.