Wednesday was a very bad day for a few sushi restaurant owners. But it was rather good for the bluefin tuna. Marian Burros reported in the New York Times that—well, let’s just cut to the devastating lede: “Recent laboratory tests found so much mercury in tuna sushi from 20 Manhattan stores and restaurants that at most of them, a regular diet of six pieces a week would exceed the levels considered acceptable by the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Um … yikes! Even worse, five of the sushi samples had so much mercury that the FDA “could take legal action to remove the fish from the market.”
Burros quotes Drew Nieporent, a managing partner of Nobu Next Door, as saying, “I’m startled by this. Anything that might endanger any customer of ours, we’d be inclined to take off the menu immediately and get to the bottom of it.” To which the only reasonable response is: What? How could you possibly be startled? It’s not that hard: Big, long-lived fish collect lots of mercury; tuna, especially bluefin, can be really big and old; therefore, tuna has lots of mercury.
As Samuel Fromartz notes on Chews Wise, “If you are in the seafood business, you’d have to be deaf, dumb and blind to ignore the mercury warnings on tuna, especially in larger species like bluefin where mercury [is] known to accumulate.” Fromartz also touches on what may be the real news here: Everyone’s apparently still serving bluefin, a wondrous species that is famously, famously endangered. “There have been gobs of articles on the plight of the bluefin for years, and this illuminating piece from 60 Minutes this past weekend that is worth watching if you haven’t seen it.”
The Times talked to the head of the FDA’s chemical hazard assessment team: He said that the agency was already reviewing its seafood mercury warnings. And later in the story he added this, which I’m surprised the Times didn’t play up: “A couple of months ago the F.D.A. became aware of bluefin tuna as a species Americans are eating.” A couple of months ago?
I’m sure due to budget cuts there’s probably only one guy there in charge of “fish”. And he’s probably a Red Lobster guy. So more than likely his yuppie kids took him out for a sushi dinner for his birthday a couple months ago and introduced him to bluefish tuna. And so he did just find out about it a few months ago.
Thanks for your post on the New York Time’s local story about mercury in sushi. Oceana, an international marine conservation organization, published an even more extensive national study on mercury levels in fresh tuna, swordfish and tilapia from supermarkets, and tuna and mackerel from sushi restaurants. The good news is that mackerel and tilapia are low-mercury fish and can be eaten safely. The bad news is that swordfish and fresh tuna have high levels of mercury, and consumers should be leery.
The Food and Drug Administration has recommended that women of childbearing age and children completely avoid eating swordfish and limit consumption of fresh tuna to six ounces or less a week. Even if people are familiar with this advice concerning mercury, they probably don’t readily carry it while dining out or shopping for their weekly groceries. Additionally, Oceana’s study found that 87 percent of seafood counter attendants couldn’t provide shoppers with the FDA warning, so you shouldn’t rely on them to give you the government advice either.
Posting signs in grocery stores would provide this crucial information in a way that is accessible and easily understood. Major grocery companies like Kroger, Safeway and Albertsons are posting the FDA advice at their seafood counters. Still other grocers, like Costco, Publix and A&P, refuse to post a sign and give this important information to their customers. There is no reason to cut seafood totally out of your diet, but it is important to know what kinds of fish are potentially harmful and how to avoid them. Check out Oceana’s new report and get the full story.
Thanks for your post on the New York Time’s local story about mercury in sushi. Oceana, an international marine conservation organization, published an even more extensive national study on mercury levels in fresh tuna, swordfish and tilapia from supermarkets, and tuna and mackerel from sushi restaurants. The good news is that mackerel and tilapia are low-mercury fish and can be eaten safely. The bad news is that swordfish and fresh tuna have high levels of mercury and consumers should be leery.
The Food and Drug Administration has recommended that women of childbearing age and children completely avoid eating swordfish and limit consumption of fresh tuna to six ounces or less a week. Even if people are familiar with this advice concerning mercury, they probably don’t readily carry it while dining out or shopping for their weekly groceries. Additionally, Oceana’s study found that 87 percent of seafood counter attendants couldn’t provide shoppers with the FDA warning, so you shouldn’t rely on them to give you the government advice either.
Posting signs in grocery stores would provide this crucial information in a way that is accessible and easily understood. Major grocery companies like Kroger, Safeway and Albertsons are posting the FDA advice at their seafood counters. Still other grocers, like Costco, Publix and A&P, refuse to post a sign and give this important information to their customers. There is no reason to cut seafood totally out of your diet, but it is important to know what kinds of fish are potentially harmful and how to avoid them. Check out Oceana’s new report and get the full story at http://www.oceana.org/mercury.
I am a wholesale seafood supplier from Canada. My focus is on sustainable fisheries, and quality product. please contact me if you are looking for Tuna, Halibut, Wild Salmon or and other specialty product desired from the Pacific West Coast.