Nutrition

March 12, 2015 — The following was released by Delaware Sea Grant:

Workshop goals: Workshop attendees receiving seafood quality and safety training will increase their technical knowledge and understanding of important global, national, regional and local issues and developments related to seafood safety and human health.

Who should attend: Food technologists, dieticians, nutritionists, extension agents (home economics, fisheries, aquaculture, seafood technology, food safety, etc.) and seafood industry professionals (seafood buyers, distributors, retail personnel, etc.) are the primary audience for this technical training program. Because of tour limitations and seafood handling and preparation logistics, registration will be limited to 35 attendees.

What you will learn: The workshop will provide information on current issues, developments and trends for fishery and aquaculture industries and products. Program content covers technical aspects of seafood health and safety from water to table. Seafood products from wild caught and aquaculture sources will be discussed from the following perspectives: nutrition, benefits and risks, food safety, quality and handling, harvest and production methods, processing, HACCP, sourcing, distribution and marketing. In addition to national issues, the program will also address topics of regional and local interest. Formats will include classroom lectures/seminars, demonstrations and local tours of facilities that support the seafood industry.

Where: Hotel Indigo New Orleans Garden District, 2203 St Charles Avenue, New Orleans Louisiana 70130
Registration fee: $150 includes partial meals (3 breakfasts, 2 lunches, session breaks, welcome reception and seafood demonstration/dinner), tour transportation, and resource materials. Online registration is available at www.udel.edu/masaqua

Trainers: Doris Hicks and John Ewart, University of Delaware; Christina DeWitt and Michael Morrissey, Oregon State University; and Rusty Gaude, Louisiana State University.

Lodging: The Hotel Indigo has rooms available at a special workshop rate from 4/20-24, 2015 (Use Group Code: AFT) for $139.00 per night (single or double occupancy) Tax: 14.75% per night and 1.00 USD. This special rate expires on March 20, 2015 and afterwards regular room rates will apply. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival opens on April 24th and hotel rooms are in high demand. Please book with the Indigo Hotel directly online www.hotelindigo.com or call 1-877-846-3446 for reservations.
 
For additional information about the 2015 Gulf Coast workshop and program, contact Doris Hicks, Seafood Technology Specialist, University of Delaware Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service. Phone: (302) 645-4297; Fax: (302) 645-4213; E-Mail: dhicks@udel.edu, or visit the workshop Website at darc.cms.udel.edu/sgseafood

 

 

March 9, 2015 — A plant-based diet may lower the risk of colorectal cancers, particularly if it includes seafood and fish, a large U.S. study finds.

Previous research suggests that vegetarians have a reduced risk of certain cancers, heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity. The current study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, offers fresh insight into the health benefits of different types of plant-based diets.

"We were surprised to find that pescovegetarians had a significantly lower risk of colorectal cancers than people on other vegetarian diets," said lead study author Dr. Michael Orlich, an assistant professor in medicine and public health at Loma Linda University in California.

Orlich and colleagues used dietary questionnaires, medical records, and cancer registries to examine the link between eating habits and cancer prevalence in a nationwide sample of 77,659 Seventh-Day Adventists, a religion that encourages a healthy lifestyle and abstinence from smoking and drinking.

After an average follow-up of 7.3 years, there were 380 cases of colon cancer and 110 cases of rectal cancer. Overall, compared to regular meat eaters, the vegetarians were 22% less likely to have colorectal malignancies, the study found.

Read the full story at the New York Daily News

March 4, 2015 — It’s a pretty constant refrain from those who study our diet: Eat more seafood, it’s good for you.

And for those who observe Lent, this is the time when meals based on seafood are de rigueur.

Seafood is a favorite restaurant dish, but not that many of us cook seafood at home.

Vicky Murphy of Inland Seafood says the industry has found that almost three-fourths of all seafood is eaten outside the home. “People shy away from cooking seafood at home because they overthink it,” she says.

“They’re concerned about choosing seafood, and because they’re used to cooking beef, pork and poultry, they overcook what they bring home. Seafood actually takes a fraction of the cooking time of those meats and can be easily cooked at home.”

Murphy has been creating and demonstrating seafood recipes for many years. One of her favorite “recipes” for the novice seafood cook who wants an impressive dinner party entree is to start with a side of salmon placed skin side down on large piece of foil on a baking sheet.

Read the full story from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

March 3, 2015 — In a Harvard study, the benefits of fish consumption on a developing fetus were clear. Researchers found that for every weekly serving of fish a mother ate while pregnant, her baby's score on visual recognition memory tests jumped four points on average, reports the New York Times.

The benefits did not end there. Babies whose mothers had two or more servings of fish per week also scored highest on memory tests.

The newspaper examined the issue of pregnant women eating fish as a result of the US Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee's new nutrition recommendations, which withheld recommendation about tuna and argued that women who ate double the recommended weekly amount of tuna had benefits outweighing the risks.

Read the full story from Undercurrent News

March 2, 2015 — Instead of frozen fish sticks, patients and staff are served picked crab, haddock, redfish, monkfish and even shark that the hospital buys weekly from Port Clyde Fresh Catch.

Michael Pelillo, the chef at Pen Bay Medical Center, has heard all of the stale jokes about bad hospital food. He spent most of his 45-year culinary career working in hospitals and rehab centers, and he has seen everything – the lime gelatin, the mystery meat, the mixed vegetables that look as if they were harvested during the Eisenhower presidency.

“I’ve seen things that would scare people,” he joked.

Now Pelillo is working at a hospital that has, at least for the past few years, dedicated itself to serving as much local food as possible. Instead of frozen fish sticks, patients and staff are served picked crab, haddock, redfish, monkfish and even shark that the hospital buys weekly from Port Clyde Fresh Catch.

In the summer and fall, the hospital buys produce from Hatchet Cove Farm, an organic farm in Warren, and advertises that fact to patients. Pelillo estimates the hospital spends 15 percent of its food budget on local foods. “We were looking at bringing in food for the patients, giving them a nice quality product, plus we also wanted to support the local vendors,” Pelillo said. “There’s an opportunity right here in front of us, so why not use it?”

Pen Bay is one of at least 10 Maine hospitals trying to purchase ingredients from Maine farms and fishermen. These hospitals are part of a national movement aimed at improving sustainability, nutrition and community engagement by changing the way hospitals and other institutions source their food. They are following in the footsteps of schools and universities, many of which have already embraced local foods.

Read the full story from the Portland Press Herald

 

February 24, 2015 — It's a simple question, but one many people don't know how to answer: How long does fresh fish last in the refrigerator after you buy it?

Equally passionate about good seafood as we are afraid of fish that's gone bad, we at HuffPost Taste reached out to the experts to confirm the answer once and for all. After speaking with some fishmongers from around New York City, we found the consensus: Fresh fish lasts in the fridge for two to three days, at most.

The folks over at Brooklyn's Fish Tales say that fish will keep for three days maximum. Of course, they buy fresh fish every morning and urge anyone to buy fish the same day they're going to cook it. If that's impossible, you should keep it on ice in the refrigerator. Never keep it in the freezer, they say.

According to the fishmongers at The Lobster Place, which also buys fresh seafood every day and suggests you do your shopping as close to the time that you're planning to eat as possible, a whole fish will keep slightly longer than fillets. When you buy a whole fish, less of the area that you're planning to eat is exposed to oxygen. This means it will keep a little longer. They estimate a whole fish will last a maximum of three days, while fillets will last closer to two days.

Certain fish will dry out faster than others, the folks at The Lobster Place say, and some will change color slightly as they age. Discoloration doesn't necessarily indicate that the fish has spoiled, however. Your best method of deciphering whether or not your fish is still fresh is "by giving it the old smell test," the fishmongers say. If it smells off, it probably is.

Read the full story at the Huffington Post

 

February 18, 2015 — Fish and seafood, a generic term for edibles from the sea, are excellent sources of high quality protein and healthy fats. The availability of a wide variety of fish provides many options for appetizers, sides and main dishes. Americans would benefit nutritionally by eating more fish, though compared to most of the world, they eat very little.

Many of the myths surrounding fish negatively impact consumption. Judith Rodriguez, chair of the Department of Nutrition and Dietetics at the University of North Florida, discusses some of these myths and presents tips for including fish in a healthy diet. A recipe is provided.
 
Myth: Eat mollusks only during months containing the letter “r.”

Fact: The basis for the myth is that marine bacteria, such as Vibrio, are more prevalent during the warm weather months May through August. The best advice, whenever mollusks are consumed, is to eat only those that are legally harvested from clean waters, shucked — removed from shells — and cooked. If susceptible to infection, abstain from eating raw or partially cooked shellfish.

Myth: Fish is toxic and needs to be avoided.

Fact: Fish is an excellent, healthy food source, recommended in the two “best overall” rated DASH and TLC diets. The American Heart Association’s “The Simple 7: Eat Better” campaign recommends eating fish at least twice a week. Two 3.5-ounce servings of oily fish, such as salmon, per week may help lower the risk of death from coronary artery disease. Research indicates that seafood’s abundant Omega-3 fatty acids, such as EPA and DHA, may play a role in the prevention or treatment of diseases where inflammation is a factor. If concerned about mercury consumption, avoid eating large predatory fish, such as king mackerel, marlin, shark and swordfish.

Read the full story at the Florida Times-Union

February 12, 2015 — The following was released by NOAA:

NOAA’s first-ever long term report of the national distribution of parasites and disease in mussels and oysters, using data gathered between 1995 and 2009, provides a new data set for coastal resource management and shows the occurrence and severity of disease and parasite infections to be generally low nationwide during that time.

“The unprecedented baseline data in this new report will be vital for coastal managers as they look at degrading conditions in mussel and oyster population,” said Dennis Apeti, the report’s lead author and an oceanographer with the National Ocean Service’s National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science. “Environmental stressors, including unforeseen natural and human influenced events and climate change, continue to impact our coastal resources.”

Read the full release from NOAA

 

February 5, 2015 — A program that brings locally caught fish right out of the Pacific and onto the plates of local school children is going swimmingly, according to the Fort Bragg Groundfish Association’s Michelle Norvell.

Many varieties of fish are making their way from Noyo Harbor to Fort Bragg schools through a program being called Fish to Fork.

The program is part of FBGA’s campaign called Tide to You, which is aimed at tying the community more closely to the West Coast Groundfish Fishery.

More than 200 pounds of fish have been served to students so far.

A number of different types of seafood will be provided throughout the year, including Petrale Sole, Sablefish, Chilipepper Rockfish, Arrowtooth Flounder, Grenadier and Dover Sole to name a few.

“We want to give the chefs a variety of fish with different colors, tastes and textures to put on the kids’ menus,” said Norvell. “Independent chefs have offered to support our school district’s chefs in creating new kid-friendly dishes that are both delicious and in line with national nutritional goals.”

Read the full story at the Fort Bragg Advocate-News

February 3, 2015 — Now, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is considering a set of rules for organic farmed fish. Several consumer groups, though, say the recommended rules don't go far enough to meet the strict standards of other organic foods.

The feed that the fish eat is at the center of the debate.

On one side of the issue: the National Organic Standards Board, a federal advisory board whose members are appointed by the secretary of agriculture. NOSB recommended guidelines for how fish can be grown organically in pens in the ocean and how much wild-caught fish can be ground up as fish meal to feed the fish.

"What the National Organic Standards Board recommended was that there would be some allowance for nonorganic fish feed that would be phased out after a 12-year period of time," says Miles McEvoy, the deputy administrator of the USDA's National Organic Program.

Many organic stakeholders, however, say an organic diet is important for organic livestock and fish.

Lisa Bunin, the organic policy director at the Center for Food Safety, says fish farmed under the recommended standards shouldn't be certified as organic, because the wild fish used in the fish meal can't be certified as organic.

Read the full story at NPR