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- HEALTH, Page 70Is Your Fish Really Foul?
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- Reports about toxic contaminants, bacteria and inadequate federal
- inspection have consumers reeling about the safety of eating
- seafood
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- By LEON JAROFF -- Reported by Janice M. Horowitz/New York
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- What is high in protein, low in calories, fat and
- cholesterol, and the dish of choice in many countries with low
- rates of heart disease? The answer, as doctors and nutritionists
- have long maintained is fish. Indeed, experts point out, what
- little fat there is in some species can actually benefit the
- consumer; it contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which
- can lower cholesterol levels in humans.
-
- The unremitting praise of virtually everything piscan has
- had its effect. Over the past 30 years, as American beef
- consumption has sunk, T-bone and porterhouse have given way to
- steaks of salmon, swordfish and tuna. Overall U.S. fish
- consumption is up 50% since 1960 and nearly 25% in the past 10
- years alone.
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- But now, just in time for barbecue season, consumers are
- befuddled by a series of reports casting doubt on the safety of
- this highly touted health food. They were especially dismayed
- when the Consumers Union published the results of a six-month
- investigation showing widespread fish spoilage, bacterial
- contamination and the presence of mercury and industrial
- pollutants in fish sold in Chicago and New York City markets.
-
- Similar concerns spurred members of Congress to introduce
- legislation that would beef up the government's efforts to
- inspect seafood. That would please the nation's professional
- chefs, 300 of whom have become so alarmed by what they see in
- U.S. fish markets that they have banded together to form CHEFS:
- Chefs Helping to Enhance Food Safety.
-
- The need for a stronger inspection system has been
- underscored by a number of incidents. Last week three former
- inspectors for the Food and Drug Administration pleaded guilty
- to accepting bribes in return for approving mercury-tainted
- swordfish and decomposing lobster. And last month the FDA
- revealed that a shipment of contaminated tuna from Ecuador led
- to an outbreak of food poisoning involving 79 people in eight
- states.
-
- But the sharpest warnings have been issued about fish
- caught by recreational fishermen, which account for about 20%
- of the fish eaten in the U.S. Their catches in the Great Lakes
- can be so heavily contaminated with PCBs and other chemicals
- that the Medical Society of Genesee County, Mich., has taken
- the extraordinary step of warning that the stuff should not be
- eaten by "children or by men or women who ever plan to have
- children." All in all, says Jeffery Foran, an environmental-
- health expert at George Washington University, "if you're
- pregnant or nursing, you should probably avoid most kinds of
- fish."
-
- Such advice may be extreme, considering the health
- benefits of eating most seafood. The FDA maintains that concerns
- have been overstated. "The perception that seafood is unsafe is
- untrue," declared FDA Commissioner David Kessler last month in
- a speech to a fish-industry group. In the past two years, the
- agency has toughened its fish-inspection procedures, adding
- staff and dollars to the effort. "The vast preponderance of
- seafood that reaches the consumer is safe, clean and free of
- contaminants and chemicals," Kessler maintains. Researchers at
- the National Academy of Science came to essentially the same
- conclusion last year in a report on seafood safety. "There are
- some areas of concern," says Farid Ahmed, the toxicologist who
- oversaw the report, but "basically the fish supply is safe."
-
- Still, the creatures of the sea are uniquely vulnerable to
- contamination. "Fish are like sponges," explains consumer
- advocate Ellen Haas of Public Voice for Food and Health Policy.
- "They are highly susceptible to absorbing contaminants in
- water." Fish is the only major food group that lives and feeds
- in the wild. And compared with beef cattle and chickens, which
- eat mainly grasses and grain, many fish are high up in the food
- chain. In a process called biomagnification, tiny fish pick up
- contaminants from the plankton they feed on in polluted waters,
- concentrating heavy metals like methylmercury in their organs.
- The little fish in turn are eaten by larger fish, further
- concentrating the toxins. In big, finned predators like
- swordfish and tuna, the contaminants can reach levels that may
- be harmful to the next link in the food chain: humans. Though
- its samples were limited to two cities -- a point seized upon
- by critics, who also questioned testing procedures -- the
- Consumers Union study found that 40% of its swordfish samples
- had levels of mercury exceeding safety guidelines set by the
- FDA.
-
- Fatty fish like salmon, bluefish and herring are
- vulnerable to another kind of contaminant: chlorinated compounds
- such as PCBs, dioxins and DDT, which once consumed linger in the
- body for years. The Consumers Union found detectable levels of
- PCBs, which have been linked to cancer and developmental
- disorders, in 43% of its salmon samples and 25% of examined
- swordfish. The PCBs were generally within the federal tolerance
- limit, but consumer groups have questioned whether that standard
- is adequate. Chlorinated compounds are lipophilic, or
- fat-loving; absorbed through the skin and gills, they
- concentrate in a fish's fatty tissue. "Very minute quantities
- in the water will produce very high concentrations in fish,"
- says George Washington University's Foran. "You can drink the
- polluted Great Lakes waters over a lifetime and not get as much
- chemical contamination as you'd get from eating one fish meal."
-
- Shellfish are also highly susceptible to bacterial and
- viral contamination, since they live close to the shore, where
- pollution tends to be worst. Cooking generally destroys the
- microbes that infect shellfish, but eating raw clams, oysters
- and other shellfish is linked to nearly 1,000 cases of hepatitis
- each year.
-
- Other dangers begin once the fish is out of water. Because
- bacteria that live on fish are adapted to withstand the cool and
- cold waters of lakes and oceans, they can thrive in
- temperatures cold enough to preserve other foods. Such microbes
- will quickly spoil the catch of the day, unless it is confined
- without delay to temperatures close to freezing. Even under the
- best conditions, most fresh fish lasts only seven to 12 days.
- But it frequently takes as long as seven days for fish to make
- the journey from the fisherman's net to the supermarket, where
- it may sit for several more days. According to the Consumers
- Union, shoppers are lucky if they get the catch of the week.
-
- Despite the potential risks, federal regulation of fish is
- somewhat scattershot. The FDA investigates only about a third
- of the 3,000 U.S. fish-processing plants once a year, skipping
- some for as long as two years. Plants can volunteer to pay for
- an inspection by the Commerce Department, but only about 5% of
- all plants, representing one-fifth of total consumption, do so.
- And while the Agriculture Department analyzes more than 150,000
- meat and poultry samples each year for chemical residues, the
- FDA does this for only several thousand fish samples.
-
- Next week hearings will begin on the Consumer Seafood
- Safety bill, which calls for comprehensive monitoring of both
- domestic and imported fish, accounting for more than half of
- American consumption. The proposal requires rigorous unannounced
- inspections of processing plants and distribution centers. Not
- every fish will be examined: with 90,000 fishing vessels and
- 3,000 processing plants (as opposed to the 116 slaughterhouses
- that handle most U.S. beef), that would be impossible. And yet,
- says Haas, "the bill sets very strong inspection standards."
- Equally significant, the legislation would require that maximum
- tolerance levels be established for a host of chemical and
- biological contaminants. FDA chief Kessler opposes the measure,
- arguing that the current system is working well and continues
- to improve.
-
- Even without tougher inspection standards, smart consumers
- can protect themselves against tainted fish with a few
- precautions. Seafood should look and smell fresh: skin should
- be vivid, eyes bright, no fishy odor. Ideally, stores should
- display it on ice. If not, fish is best selected from the bottom
- of the refrigerator case, where it is coldest. Once home, fresh
- fish should be kept very cold and eaten within a day or two.
- Cooking thoroughly is the safest policy, but no amount of it
- will destroy chemical contaminants. It is best to scrape off the
- fatty skin before cooking. Pregnant women, nursing mothers and
- young children should limit consumption of fish that might have
- high levels of mercury and PCBs.
-
- Still, despite the recent hubbub about fish, the dangers
- of seafood must be weighed against its proven benefits. Edward
- Groth, who led the Consumers Union fish study, urges
- moderation. "We think people should be smarter consumers of
- fish, rather than eat less of it."
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