HARTFORD, Conn.—A trade group that represents most large Connecticut supermarkets is kicking off a statewide effort to urge women to eat healthy fish varieties.
The Connecticut Food Association last week started posting advice cards and signs at many supermarket seafood counters, explaining the best options for women's health.
Read the complete story from The Boston Globe.
PANAMA CITY BEACH, FL – Brain Lague, an eighth grade student at Surfside Middle School, has taken his interest in fish and applied it to a science fair project that he plans to enter in the 2011 Three Rivers Regional Science and Engineering Fair, an annual event.
His project involves the study of mercury levels in local fish, with his research taking him to the U.S. Geological Survey Florida Water Science Center in Tallahassee and a Florida A&M University laboratory.
Lague spent a day at the USGS lab in Tallahassee, with Lia Chasar helping Lague grind and dry all of the samples.
The FAMU lab offered to let Lague use their direct mercury analyzer to get mercury readings, with NOAA and USGS scientists helping him run statistical tests to analyze the mercury levels and compare them to recommended Food and Drug Administration levels.
While he didn’t have all of his readings back as of Thursday, Lague said that his preliminary findings showed that the fish he tested contained mercury amounts within the FDA’s recommended levels.
Read the complete story from The Walton Sun.
Here’s a handy rule-of-thumb for conservation-minded sushi lovers worried about accidentally eating bluefin tuna: if it’s not wildly expensive, its not bluefin.
In Japan, which consumes 80% of the Atlantic bluefin catch every year, a single, bite-sized morsel can easily set you back €20 ($28).
Five main species of tuna make up the annual worldwide catch of 4 million metric tons (MT) to 4.5 million MT, and bluefin — Thunnus thynnus — is less than 1% of the total, some 24,000 MT in 2008.
Chances are that the raw tuna in your €10 ($14) lunch platter — whether in London, Hong Kong, New York or Sydney — is either yellowfin (Thunnus albacares) or bigeye (Thunnus obesus). They make up 24% and 10% of the global tuna market, respectively.
The most common "chicken of the sea" is not, strictly speaking, even a member of the Thunnus family: skipjack, or Katsuwonus pelamis, accounts for 60% of all tuna caught each year, some 2.41 million MT.
Read the complete story from Business World Online.
Pan-seared scallops from New Bedford, Mass., ($28) were also deserving of an honor roll position. Tender and succulent, they brought back memories of happy visits along the New England coast. Scallops just don’t get much better than these. An amazingly mild but zesty horseradish cream sauce was quite good.
A mainstay of Birmingham’s fine dining scene since 2002, Ocean continues to satisfy discriminating tastes with some of the finest seafood preparation this side of Davy Jones’ locker. Alabamians know and love their seafood and have taken this trendy restaurant to heart as a purveyor of fresh, fine fish and related items.
The atmosphere is upscale if a bit stark and noisy. Tables are close together to accommodate more diners. The sea theme is evident in extensive use of shades of aquamarine and turquoise throughout. Subdued lighting contributes to a dark, bottom-of-the-sea feeling. There is no fishy fragrance despite the tanks and display counters of fresh fish and such.
Read the complete critique from Alabama Live.
The deputy director of the Office of Marine Fisheries in Mississippi keeps a contact list of major media outlets and the press, and if he sees something wrong with the state’s monthly seafood samples from the Gulf, the first thing he will do is call reporters.
“I’m not going into this with blinders on, and I’m not going to ignore any data results,” said Jewell, who has been working at the department for almost 14 years. “Our number-one concern is the safety of the public and the consumption of seafood. If any of these samples come back bad, I’ll step up to bat.”
The uncertainty over seafood safety has been a concern since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill April 20. The waters were immediately closed to fishing or catching, and thousands of people were out of a job. Only a small portion of the waters, approximately 4%, is still closed.
Read the complete story from Market Watch.
On the eve of Halloween, we have an opportunity to stop a real life horror show – the Obama administration's fast-track approval of genetically engineered salmon for human consumption.
Representative Don Young of Alaska has introduced a clear and concise bill, HR 6265, to prevent the approval of genetically engineered salmon and other fish.
The bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act by adding at the end the following new paragraph: "Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, a genetically engineered fish shall be deemed unsafe under this section."
Food and Water Watch, environmental groups, Tribes and fishing organizations are urging other Representatives to co-sponsor the bill. Marie Logan, Researcher and Policy Analyst of the Fish Program of Food and Water Watch, is circulating a copy of a sign-on letter that urges our representatives in Congress to co-sponsor HR 6265.
Read the complete opinion piece from Central Valley.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. health officials are set to rule on whether a faster-growing, genetically engineered fish is safe to eat in a decision that could deliver the first altered animal food to consumers' dinner plates.
The fish, made by Aqua Bounty Technologies Inc, is manipulated to grow twice as fast as traditional Atlantic salmon, something the company says could boost the nation's fish sector and reduce pressure on the environment.
But consumer advocates and food safety experts are worried that splicing and dicing fish genes may have the opposite effect, leading to more industrial farming and potential escapes into the wild. Side effects from eating such fish are also unknown, with little data to show it is safe, they say.
Read the complete story from ABC News.
An interesting tidbit of information came from the National Science Foundation last week when a new study slated to be published in a forthcoming science journal “Ecotoxicology,” revealed information concerning the levels of mercury in fish.
We all know, or at least we should, that mercury, a toxic chemical that occurs naturally, is heightened by emissions from factories that operate along our riverbanks. Higher levels of the chemical are found in larger fish species, where it is stored in the muscle. Larger fish consume smaller fish, which adds to the mercury buildup in fish predators, such as largemouth bass, tuna and shellfish.
New findings by a research team out of North Carolina University has found that mercury levels in fish living near coal-fired power plants are lower than those of fish living 30 kilometers – or just over 18 miles – away from the plants. Fish living further away, it was discovered had more than three times the amount of mercury than those living closer.
Read the complete story from Trib Today.
Hake, once called “trash fish,’’ because few people wanted it, may be the last bargain in the seafood case. “Yesterday’s trash fish may be tomorrow’s food fish,’’ says Mark Szymanski, assistant biologist at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. Carl Fantasia of New Deal Fish Market in East Cambridge sees a lot of hake when he goes to buy fish at the wholesale houses.
“I recommend it quite often to people who are looking for a white, flaky alternative to cod or halibut,’’ says Fantasia. Gavin Egbert, seafood coordinator for the North Atlantic Region for Whole Foods Markets, says that hake has not been ranked by the Blue Ocean Institute, a scientific organization that collects data. No one is really certain whether there are sufficient stocks of this locally caught, sweet, white fish so that you can buy it guilt free. Egbert still considers hake “one of the most value-focused items in the case.’’
All of the popular New England white fish — cod, halibut, haddock, pollock, and hake — are splendid when sauteed, simmered in liquid, even deep-fat fried. Send them into a hot oven, however, and they dry out.
Read the complete story from the Boston Globe.
[TreeHugger.com] – October 6, 2010 – It's a common assumption in green foodie circles that the more information we get about our food, the better off we'll be.
But that's not always the case. From labeling food miles in Japan to stickers announcing that produce is air freighted, there has been an explosion in labels, schemes and metrics designed to communicate different aspects of sustainability to the consumer. The trouble is, the consumer hasn't got the foggiest idea of what they all mean.
Rebecca Smithers, consumer affairs correspondent at The Guardian, writes that many ethical shoppers are confused by the competing labels and standards that are designed to promote sustainability, ethical business and animal welfare.
New research from consumer advocacy group Which? indicates that overall awareness of the nine main schemes in use in Britain is low, and that the specifics of each scheme are poorly understood. There is also a huge gap in knowledge, with some schemes like Fairtrade being at least well recognized, if not understood, and others like the Marine Stewardship Council's sustainable seafood certification only being known by 6% of shoppers.
It's a pretty depressing picture. But Which? believes the answer is not less information, just better packaged information. And it is lobbying government to make sure this happens. Sue Davies, head of policy at Which?, says it's time for Britain's new government to live up to its promises:
''The coalition government has committed to introducing 'honesty' in food labeling so that consumers can be confident about where their food comes from and its environmental impact. Which? wants to work with the government and the industry to develop a clearer approach to sustainability labeling so that consumers can easily make more informed choices."
Read the complete story from TreeHugger.