Something’s fishy here…
By Sarah Heidler
Fish. For decades it has been touted as dieters dream meat for its high protein and low caloric content. We also now know fish is packed with Omega-3 fatty acids that can prevent heart disease, lower blood pressure and ease inflammation. Dr. Gourmet even boasts that fish make you smarter, or at least less dumb.
But is it all that good for you? With possible high levels of mercury, industrial chemicals like PCBs or pesticides like DDT and Dieldrin? The Harvard School of Public Health says that the benefits far outweigh any risks of mercury poisoning. Which, I suppose is fine, as long as you’re not the one being poisoned.
One of the biggest considerations regarding fish is where it comes from and how it is farmed or caught. We need to be our own watchdogs in this arena, because the FDA is underfunded, having not received promised funds to keep consumers safe. Less than 2% of all imported seafood actually gets inspected before it sold.
I believe that our food needs to be good for our bodies, our community and our environment. Or at least not detrimental. That is a lot to consider, when all I want to do is grill some salmon for the family on Friday night. Luckily, there are a lot of folks out there doing research and making it easy for me to find out what’s up with my fish…
Prevention Magazine has a quick article on 12 fish to avoid.
The Environmental Defense Fund has a great database where they give different fish and practices an eco-rating, a mercury rating and an Omega-3 rating.
The Natural Resource Defense Council has a guide to Mercury in Fish.
Food and Water Watch have a helpful Seafood Buying Guide.
Alaskan Salmon might be good for us, environmentally sustainable, very low in contaminants and high in Omega-3’s, but American Salmon sometimes makes a round trip to China for processing. Read about other strange things about the US fish market in this article.
Happy fishing for information!
