Right after I wrote against the health hazards of fish, I have received a number of letters from various fish traders  attacking my motives, qualifications and information.  This is typical. Everytime evidence is presented against meat , fish and dairy , it is sought to be silenced by big business interests. When Oprah Winfrey declared on television that she would never again eat a hamburger following an outbreak of  Mad Cow Disease, she was promptly sued by  the association of Texas cattle ranchers who make a living from killing cows.  To the fishy folk who wrote in to me, my reply is a finding just released by the US Centre for Science in the Public Interest ( CSPI) which states that fish and shellfish are more likely to cause foodborne-illness than any other category of food product.

The agency stated that with regard to the outbreaks involving fresh produce that grabbed the headlines this year and last, an analysis of the rates of outbreak-related illnesses caused by various foods shows that fish and shellfish account for more sicknesses per bite than any other category.  The CSPI  found that seafood outbreaks  at  1140  outnumbered any other category of food.

“Fin fish, such as tuna, grouper, mahi mahi, and salmon, were linked to 694 of these outbreaks; molluscs, including oysters, clams, and mussels were linked to 175 outbreaks; and the rest linked to shrimp, lobster, or foods such as crab cakes and tuna burgers. While Vibrio bacteria and noroviruses contributed to these, naturally occurring toxins such as scombrotoxin and ciguatoxin account for a plurality of seafood outbreaks,” stated the agency.

According to its data, a pound of fish and shellfish is 29 times more likely to cause illness than other food categories.   

The CSPI went on to clarify that as foodborne illness is dramatically underreported, and due to the fact that it is so difficult to prove which food caused an outbreak, its data represents just the tip of a very large iceberg: “Each year, according to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), foodborne illness sickens 76 million and kills 5,000 Americans.”  CPSI is  urging the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reduce its reliance on recalls and warnings and instead focus on preventing these problems ever reaching consumers.

Here are more reasons to question the  deceptive practices that food companies use to promote their products. One company  wants to use label its chickens  ”Raised without antibiotics that impact antibiotic resistance in humans”  even though  it injects them with  the antibiotic, gentamicin that is a nephrotoxin which damages human kidneys.  Apart from antibiotics into the animal,  manufacturers add  carbon monoxide to packaged meat  to minimize brown spots and make it look fresher, so consumers buy it even if it is past its prime. Lower-fat milks and yogurts most likely contain unlabelled powdered milk, which is essentially oxidized cholesterol and dangerous to our health. 70% of food in America n supermarkets contains genetically modified ingredients, but it never says so on the label.

The reason I rely on foreign research is that unfortunately with little or  no emphasis on food safety standards here, we have few or no studies on the subject.  But that does not mean that the results do not apply. If anything , we should multiply the findings  several times over.  If  fish is a health hazard in America , it is many more times more dangerous in India due to the lack of proper refrigeration, unhygienic handling, and unsafe storage. Similarly with packaged meat and dairy.  Animal-based products are especially at risk because of their swift rate of decay, their need for refrigeration and the lack of sanitary sale outlets.   

Take eggs for example that are stacked in corrugated paper cartons in the open at most general stores.  Each eggshell has 25,000-30,000 micropores through which oxygen reaches the embryo within.  These pores become contaminated with microbes if stored at any tempe rature above 30 degrees, meaning that the egg is unfit for consumption 24 hours after it is laid if not refrigerated immediately. Given the long chain from production to retail who knows how old and contaminated the egg is before it gets to you.  Perhaps the reason that fish pose the highest health hazard as per the CSPI report, is that they have the longest way to go to reach inland consumers.  So unless you live on the coast or have a definite death wish,  don’t fish for trouble. Keep fish off your plate and in the waters where they belong.     

This entry was posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 5:02 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.