Contaminants in Seafood

[Prime Seafood]

The Environmental Defense Fund has developed a useful display identifying the common seafood items which have high levels of dangerous contaminants. It assesses not only methyl mercury (which affects the central nervous system), but also cancer causing PCBs. Their link is

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=17694

Additional webpages explain the dangers of each type of contaminant. The assessment can be downloaded for use when visiting the grocery store or a restaurant.

"Farmed and Dangerous"

Of particular concern is the contaminant burden of most farm-raised salmon. Did you know that just one meal a month of the cheap, "farm-raised" salmon that is sold in most restaurants and supermarkets poses an "unacceptably high risk" of causing cancer? This is the primary conclusion of the first extensive scientific study of the subject as reported in Science (9 Jan 2007).

Wild salmon eat herring, squid, shrimp, krill, anchovies and other small fish, and migrate thousands of miles in the ocean, away from polluted city and farm runoff. "Farmed" salmon (salmon grown en masse in aquatic feed lots) are fed a concentrated feed high in fish oils and fishmeal made from smaller fish that contain pollutants. Salmon, a relatively oily, fatty fish, can accumulate the cancer-causing PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and pesticides from their feed, and can also ingest them as they grow in enclosed net pens in coastal areas and estuaries. This $2.4 million study tested approximately 700 farmed and wild salmon - approximately 2 metric tons - collected from around the world. It was conducted by researchers at four universities, including Cornell University, the University of Indiana at Bloomington and an analytical lab. They found farmed salmon from Scotland and Europe had the highest levels of PCBs, those from the U.S. and Canada with intermediate levels while the farmed fish from Chile had the lowest PCB levels. But even the Chilean salmon had unacceptably high levels of cancer-causing contaminants.

Jim Chambers

www.Prime Seafood.com

301-949-7778

[mbucher]

The Environmental Defense Fund has developed a useful display identifying the common seafood items which have high levels of dangerous contaminants. It assesses not only methyl mercury (which affects the central nervous system), but also cancer causing PCBs. Their link is

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=17694

Additional webpages explain the dangers of each type of contaminant. The assessment can be downloaded for use when visiting the grocery store or a restaurant.

"Farmed and Dangerous"

Of particular concern is the contaminant burden of most farm-raised salmon. Did you know that just one meal a month of the cheap, "farm-raised" salmon that is sold in most restaurants and supermarkets poses an "unacceptably high risk" of causing cancer? This is the primary conclusion of the first extensive scientific study of the subject as reported in Science (9 Jan 2007).

Wild salmon eat herring, squid, shrimp, krill, anchovies and other small fish, and migrate thousands of miles in the ocean, away from polluted city and farm runoff. "Farmed" salmon (salmon grown en masse in aquatic feed lots) are fed a concentrated feed high in fish oils and fishmeal made from smaller fish that contain pollutants. Salmon, a relatively oily, fatty fish, can accumulate the cancer-causing PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and pesticides from their feed, and can also ingest them as they grow in enclosed net pens in coastal areas and estuaries. This $2.4 million study tested approximately 700 farmed and wild salmon - approximately 2 metric tons - collected from around the world. It was conducted by researchers at four universities, including Cornell University, the University of Indiana at Bloomington and an analytical lab. They found farmed salmon from Scotland and Europe had the highest levels of PCBs, those from the U.S. and Canada with intermediate levels while the farmed fish from Chile had the lowest PCB levels. But even the Chilean salmon had unacceptably high levels of cancer-causing contaminants.

Jim Chambers

www.Prime Seafood.com

301-949-7778

graciously offerred by alaskan fisheries I pressume

[deangold]

graciously offerred by alaskan fisheries I pressume

Actually this is who offered the science in the report, which can be evaluated as good or bad.

Jim does sell Alaskan Seafood (as my invoices to prime will indicate). Is it wrong to promote environmentally friendly fish that tastes great?

[Prime Seafood]

graciously offerred by alaskan fisheries I pressume

If you are referring to the study of contaminant levels found in farm-raised salmon, it was published in Science on 9 Jan 2007.

[FunnyJohn]

I have long stayed away from fresh Atlantic salmon (except Irish "wild caught") mainly on the basis of taste -- there's just no comparison between Pacific salmon and the eastern varietiy IMHO. I'm wondering, however, how much of the smoked salmon available at places like Whole Foods and Trader Joes is from Atlantic farm-raised fish? I fear that it is probably most or all. So are there any retail outlets around here that sell smoked pacific salmon?