Nutrition

There might be a panic over seafood sustainability, but Legal Sea Foods CEO Roger Berkowitz isn't taking the bait. Instead, he's hosting a dinner on January 24 with the New England Culinary Guild to address "outdated" scientific findings that turn the dining public against certain species of fish. Behold, a special feast featuring items that people often think are outlawed or blacklisted.

There's wine pairings, too. Click through for outtakes from the menu and details.

Fritters
Black tiger shrimp, duck cracklings, smoked tomato, and avocado sauce

Cod Cheeks
Spaghetti squash, toasted pecans, melting marrow gremolata

Prosciutto Wrapped Hake
Braised escarole, Rancho Gordo beans, blood orange marmalade

Citrus Almond Cake
Yuzu semi freddo, candied kumquats

Guests are invited to ask questions about how to read between the lines of media reports. Dinner begins at 7 p.m. at the Park Square Legal Sea Foods; tickets are $110 for non-Guild members.

 

See this story and menu from Grub Street.

 

 

 

 

 

The Chefs Collaborative wrote a letter to Roger Berkowitz, President and CEO of Legal Sea Foods. The text of the letter follows:

Dear Mr. Berkowitz,

Thank you for sparking a dialogue regarding possible exceptions to “blacklisted” seafood.  This is an issue that Chefs Collaborative has been working on for years.

Back in 2007 we published a Communiqué for our members, titled “Lists v. Local: The Complexities of Sourcing Sustainable Seafood.” The document introduced the concept that lists can be a good starting point but chefs need to take a broader and deeper approach, by talking with each other as well as with conservationists, fishermen, and purveyors.

In 2009 the Collaborative released an updated Seafood Solutions booklet to guide chefs through their sustainable seafood purchasing decisions.  Nowhere in this booklet will a chef find a list of “good fish” and “bad fish.”  Instead, the guide suggests that chefs get to know their sources, ask lots of questions (and explains what questions to ask), support small-scale fisheries, and never stop questioning and learning.

At both our 2009 and 2010 National Summits we had panel discussions highlighting ways for chefs to dig deeper than lists.  And finally, one of our best and most in depth resources is our interactive online sustainable seafood training program, Green Chefs Blue Ocean.  The program is intended for chefs who are interested in learning about all aspects of sustainable seafood—including how to purchase, prepare, and promote sustainable seafood in their kitchens and restaurants.  Lessons give information on the basics of sustainable seafood; farmed and wild fish and shellfish; local, regional and imported seafood; and implementing sustainable seafood purchasing and a promotion in a restaurant.

Read the complete letter from Chefs Collaborative.

 

 

 

 

 

 

While some of you may be sticking to New Year’s resolutions to make sustainable seafood choices in 2011, not everyone is following suit.

Namely, Legal Sea Foods CEO Roger Berkowitz, who is hosting a dinner later this month with the New England Culinary Guild featuring what he calls “blacklisted” seafood, such as black tiger shrimp, Atlantic cod and Atlantic hake, which are all on the Monterey Bay Aquarium guide’s “avoid” list.

This provocative stab at sustainable seafood designations has taken some heat, not surprisingly. Jacqueline Church and Miriam at Deep Sea News both did some digging into the company’s claims and the science that Legal is trumpeting as “outdated.”

Miriam writes at the end of her post, “There are just less fish than there used to be. This means that we need pressure from consumers for effective management – people have to have the correct information about where their fish comes from, and to understand why they should care. Thumbing one’s nose at those no-fun fisheries scientists and environmentalists is not going to change the fact that fisheries are in serious trouble.”

Read the complete story from Oceana.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. Fadi Nahab of Emory University led a team that studied the role of race and geography in stroke incidence, with a particular emphasis on the “Stroke Belt’’ in the southeastern United States, where stroke death rates are higher than in the rest of the country. African-Americans also have a higher rate of stroke than whites.

For the study, more than 21,000 people answered a telephone survey about their fish consumption. African-Americans ate more fish per week than whites, but they were also 3 1/2 times more likely to eat at least two servings of fried fish per week than whites. Fried fish consumption was 30 percent higher in the Stroke Belt than the rest of the country.

Eating fried fish may lower health benefits in two ways, the researchers said. First, lean fish such as cod or haddock are more likely to be fried than omega-3-rich salmon, herring, or mackerel. Second, frying fish is believed to reduce natural omega-3s and replace them with cooking oils.

Read the complete study from the Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

New testing of mercury levels in canned and pouch tuna, completed by Consumer Reports on 42 samples from the New York City area, show that mercury levels are significantly high enough to cause health problems. White, or albacore tuna, also proved to regularly have more mercury in it than light tuna varieties.

Recommendations from the Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency limit light tuna intake for young women and children to 12 ounces each week, and 6 ounces of albacore tuna. Young women are at special risk for birth defects and other pregnancy complications from excessive levels of mercury. Tuna, especially white tuna, is the most common source of mercury in American’s diets.

Read the complete story from All News Wire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York — A lifetime of eating fish – specifically, the omega-3 fatty acids in fish – can help protect eyesight from age-related macular degeneration, according to new research.

Joelle Anderson is among the 2 million Americans with macular degeneration, which is the leading cause of blindness in the United States.

As Anderson gets older, macular degeneration is damaging her retinas.

"It's almost like a little grey cloud that's in the side of the eye," she said to describe the disease's effects.

The number of cases of macular degeneration is expected to grow to 3 million within the next decade, but a new study finds that diet might play a role in preventing the disorder.

Read the complete story from WRAL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Senate passed last week the Food Safety Modernization Act that stiffens enforcement, tracking, inspections and gives the Food and Drug Administration recall power (that’s right, the FDA only has the power to “ask” food items be recalled; it can’t mandate). The House is set to vote on the bill next.

As cases of food contamination grow along with the factory farming of our food supply (one Canadian study shows that diseases such as H1N1 spread more among large, factory farms than small, family farms) new laws and regulations must be passed and enforced to protect our health and well-being.

Food inspections are famously lax in this country. There were less than 7,500 government food inspections last year. To put that in perspective, there are more than 2 million farms in the United States. Imported food also comprises a bigger part of the American diet; 15% of the food we Americans eat comes from overseas.

The Food Safety Bill would up foreign inspections and hold these foods to the same standards as the FDA imposes on domestically grown agriculture products.

Read the complete story from Market Watch.

 

 

 

 

 

Researchers at Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, wanted to know whether a reduced risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) would be found in a population of older people for whom fish and shellfish were a normal part of the diet, since some fish are good sources of omega-3 fatty acids. A diet rich in omega-3s probably protects against advanced AMD, the leading cause of blindness in whites in the United States, according to the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) and other recent studies. High concentrations of omega-3s have been found in the eye's retina, and evidence is mounting that the nutrient may be essential to eye health. The new research, led by Sheila K. West, PhD, was part of the Salisbury Eye Evaluation (SEE) study.

Food intake information with details on fish and shellfish consumed was collected over one year using a validated questionnaire for 2,391 participants aged 65 to 84 years who lived along Maryland's Eastern Shore. After completion of the diet assessment process, participants were evaluated for AMD. Those with no AMD were classified as controls (1,942 persons), 227 had early AMD, 153 had intermediate-stage disease, and 68 had advanced AMD. The advanced AMD group exhibited either neovascularization (abnormal blood vessel growth and bleeding) or a condition called geographic atrophy in the macular area of the eye's retina. Both conditions can result in blindness or severe vision loss.

"While participants in all groups, including controls, averaged at least one serving of fish or shellfish per week, those who had advanced AMD were significantly less likely to consume high omega-3 fish and seafood," Dr. West said. "Our study corroborates earlier findings that eating omega-3-rich fish and shellfish may protect against advanced AMD."

Read the complete story from MSNBC.

 

 

 

 

 

It may be a red herring to worry over whether people who eat lots of fish may lose whatever heart benefits they might have gained because of an increased exposure to mercury, a new study shows.

Rich in omega-3 fatty acids, fish is thought to rank high on the list of heart-healthy foods. But it has a potential dark side: many fish species that wind up on the plate have high levels of mercury, a known neurotoxin.

The scientists studied more than 900 Swedish men and women who answered questionnaires about the amount of fish in their diet. The researchers also analyzed the subjects' red blood cells for levels of mercury and selenium, another element that has been tied to heart health.

The study did raise one potential red flag: people whose red blood cells had elevated traces of selenium appeared to be at increased risk of sudden cardiac death. The number of such cases was small, however, so the researchers called for more investigation into the possible link.

Read the complete story from Reuters.

 

 

 

 

The Local Ocean fish farm in Hudson, N.Y., may be an aquaculture game-changer, raising saltwater fish, mostly sea bream (similar to porgy and orata), in tanks on land.

Raymond Mizrahi, the executive vice president and a partner in the company, said the system, which uses local drinking water treated with salt from the Red Sea, has 60 tanks, each with 3,800 gallons of water, in an old factory, and, in a greenhouse, 120 more tanks each with about 12,000 gallons of water. It is completely enclosed, so there is no runoff. All wastewater is filtered, and 70 percent of it is recirculated. The rest is treated for other uses.

Peter Bridson, the aquaculture research manager for Monterey Bay Aquarium in California, whose Seafood Watch rates the environmental impact involved in raising and gathering various species, said that, while he had not visited Local Ocean, it does not seem to cause pollution, as marine fish farms often do. Its farmed fish can’t escape into the wild. Still, as with other aquaculture operations, about 30 percent of Local Ocean’s feed is from ocean species like menhaden and anchovies, which critics of aquaculture say are threatened with overfishing for feed.

Read the complete story from The New York Times.

 

Related Stories:

Agriculture Research Service recognizes continued need for wild caught fish in aquaculture feeds

Atlantic State Marine Fisheries Commission: 'Menhaden Resource is Not Overfished … Overfishing Not Occurring.'