A market worker holds a Bluefin tuna caught in the Indian Ocean, early Friday, Feb. 5, 2010 at the
Rungis wholesale market, south of Paris. France favors a ban on the export of Bluefin tuna but wants an 18-month delay before the measure would be imposed, Ecology Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said Wednesday, Feb. 3. France's tiny neighbor, Monaco, has proposed the ban, which will be considered at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, at a meeting in Qatar in March. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
If you’ve been craving a tuna sandwich or tuna sushi or steak, and you have a green or health conscious, you probably wonder how to make a wise choice about tuna. Americans eat a lot of tuna. Known as the “blue bullion” of the sea, tuna represents big money. One bluefin tuna may bring as much as tens of thousands of dollars when served fresh for sushi. The value of these popular fish has driven a fishing industry that has been accused of unsustainable practices. Yet, Fatty fish like salmon, mackerel, herring, lake trout, sardines and albacore tuna are high in two kinds of omega-3 fatty acids: eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA),which have demonstrated benefits at reducing heart disease.
The US Environmental Protection Agency suggests that tuna eaters proceed with caution. Tuna eat a lot of other fish and concentrate the contaminants in their bodies. While these contaminants might me numerous, mercury gets measured and monitored. While mercury poses the most serious health threat to children and women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, no one thinks it’s a good idea to consume mercury. Mercury is ubiquitous; in a recent study, some level of contamination was found in every freshwater fish tested. Learn more about contaminants in seafood on the EDF website.
The EPA health risk guidelines suggest that a 150 lb person eat canned solid white (albacore tuna) only every 9 days and chuck light (bigeye, yellowfin, skijack or tongal) tuna every 3 days.
Recent news about tuna and mercury isn't good. Researchers from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) recently studied top brands of US tuna. They found that 55 percent of the samples had mercury levels higher than the EPA standard of 0.5 parts per million (ppm) and 5 percent had levels higher than the 1.0 ppm safety level set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for commercially sold fish.
What about fresh tuna for sushi or steaks? Recently, The NY Times randomly tested fish sold in NY restaurants and found that many (5 of 20) of the samples are too contaminated for human consumption. Many of these blue fin tuna samples would exceed the reccomended allowance of Mercury with only 6 pieces of sushi sized tuna a week.
The EPA issued their advisory over 4 years ago, and has not since performed/published another wide-scale analysis. The National Resource Defense Council suggests that Abacore, Ahi, and Bluefin tuna are too high in mercury to be reccomended. They suggest that if you want to eat tuna, canned chuck light might be consummed up to about 6 times per month. Since mercury amounts can be variable, you may exceed standards for toxiicty even when conforming to these guidelines.
Despite concerns about mercury levels in fish, neither the EPA, American Heart Association, nor the environmental working group suggest that everyone must avoid all tuna. See the Environmental Working Group tuna calculator.
While scientists offer various standards for safe consumption, all agree that some species are more toxic than others, and everyone must limit the amount of tuna they eat. Pregnant women, children, and women of childbearing age must limit their consumption to a greater degree and should not eat the most toxic of these species.
i have been in the seafood business for 20+ years and have dealt with the mercury issues my whole career but over the last 8 or so years the issue has never been more publicized. All the article I read talk about the problem but no one mentions a solution. The real problem i thought was there has not been a commercialized solution as the cost and time to do mercury testing is costly and laborious until recently. There is now a commercialized and proven solution that can test the mercury levels in fish in under 1 minute that is available to the fish industry but the industry continues to ignore the issue hopping it will go away. The machine was developed by a California based company name is Micro Analytical Systems, Inc. (MASI)and you can learn more about how and what they do at www.safeharborfoods.com.
Thanks Patrick! I too have read about the Safe Harbor program and applaud this company for filling a much needed public health service. If such a technology exists, why haven't more retail outlets adopted it? Or better yet, why doesn't the fishing industry (NFI) or the government utilize this technology to increase testing of imported seafood? We now import over 80% of our seafood from the "dirtiest" country in the world--China. Seems to me everyone is worried about the environment, the health of the oceans AND CONSUMERS HEALTH as long as it doesn't hurt their bottom line! Criminal...
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Comments
i have been in the seafood business for 20+ years and have dealt with the mercury issues my whole career but over the last 8 or so years the issue has never been more publicized. All the article I read talk about the problem but no one mentions a solution. The real problem i thought was there has not been a commercialized solution as the cost and time to do mercury testing is costly and laborious until recently. There is now a commercialized and proven solution that can test the mercury levels in fish in under 1 minute that is available to the fish industry but the industry continues to ignore the issue hopping it will go away. The machine was developed by a California based company name is Micro Analytical Systems, Inc. (MASI)and you can learn more about how and what they do at www.safeharborfoods.com.
Thanks Patrick! I too have read about the Safe Harbor program and applaud this company for filling a much needed public health service. If such a technology exists, why haven't more retail outlets adopted it? Or better yet, why doesn't the fishing industry (NFI) or the government utilize this technology to increase testing of imported seafood? We now import over 80% of our seafood from the "dirtiest" country in the world--China. Seems to me everyone is worried about the environment, the health of the oceans AND CONSUMERS HEALTH as long as it doesn't hurt their bottom line! Criminal...
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