Resolve to start asking hard questions about the tuna on your plate.

If you’ve spent any time at all researching ethical eating choices, you already know to steer clear of the endangered Bluefin Tuna (also known as toro) at your favorite sushi bar.

But, the waters get a little murkier when we’re talking about other types of tuna such as the Ahi in the seafood case at your local grocery store, the Yellowfin on the restaurant menu, or the “chunk light” in those little cans in your cupboard.

Food Police are downers, and I’m not interested in judging anyone’s food choices, but the tuna situation is serious. We are loving tuna to death and to the detriment of our own health. Even if you bought it at your favorite groovy natural food grocery store, ordered it at one of the best restaurants in town, or picked up the can that says “dolphin safe,” it doesn’t mean it’s okay to eat. Tuna is popular and as long as we keep buying it, most retailers will continue to sell it. Here are the problems with that:

Species in Decline

Most species of tuna are under pressure or in decline from overfishing, with more than half at risk of extinction. Tuna are far-ranging fish that roam freely across international fishing boundaries, making enforceable quota agreements complicated. The demise of long-lived predator species like tuna can have an outsized ripple effect on the food web, and cause as yet unknown imbalances in the entire ocean eco-system.

Environmentally Destructive Fishing Methods

Tuna are fast swimming, powerful beasts that have inspired the fishing industry to develop sophisticated ways of finding and catching large numbers of them. Industrial fishing vessels use sonar to find large schools of tuna, and most commonly catch them using purse seines, or long lines, both of which result in an enormous amount of bycatch, including sea turtles, sharks, and sea birds. Much “dolphin- friendly” labeling is bogus and that “dolphin-friendly” can of tuna may still be plenty unfriendly to other species.

Dangerous Levels of Mercury

As a long-lived fish, environmental toxins like mercury can bioaccumulate in the tissues of tuna, posing a real health risk if eaten often. The FDA advises limiting tuna consumption to between 6 and 12 ounces a week, depending on the type of tuna.

After finding higher levels of mercury than FDA guidelines recommend consuming from canned and pouched tuna samples, Consumer Reports issued even stricter guidelines telling pregnant women to avoid tuna entirely. Mercury concerns aside, from an environmental standpoint, where it’s caught and how it’s caught means everything. In the absence of regulation, it’s up to us to start asking more questions about what we’re buying. To find out where the responsible fisheries are, check in with the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Guide. To find out which fishing methods are environmentally preferable read up on them here.

Is there any type of tuna I can eat?

The only tuna you should be eating is that caught locally by small fishing boats trolling with a hook and line. Pacific Albacore from the West Coast is a good example, and can be found fresh or in cans. You will, however, find it to be a rather expensive delicacy to be enjoyed occasionally. But take heart. Saving the tuna for special occasions makes sense from a health standpoint because of the mercury, and if the high price lowers demand, it’s all for the good because perhaps we can leave some for future generations and the long-term health of the ocean. Buying pole and line caught tuna also means supporting the livelihoods of small-scale fishers. Ethical brands include Wild Planet, and American Tuna.

What fish can I eat instead of tuna?

From the EcoSalon archives you’ll find 11 sustainable, healthy choices including sardines, halibut, and farmed trout and mollusks. Monterey Bay Aquarium also has a chart of alternatives here.

So most of you aren’t about to replace your tuna salad sandwich with a sardine salad sandwich, but why not try canned wild salmon? Mix it with mayonnaise and add capers, dill, and a squeeze of lemon and see what you think. You might just like it better.

Images: Japes18, Dive Karma ,Tony the Bald Eagle

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate,  on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

The post Sorry Charlie: Loving Tuna to Death appeared first on EcoSalon.

Simply put, your brain likes to eat. And it likes powerful fuel: quality fats, antioxidants, and small, steady amounts of the best carbs.

On a deadline? Need to rally? Avoid the soda, vending machine snacks and tempting Starbucks pastries and go for these powerful brain boosters instead. The path to a bigger, better brain is loaded with Omega-3 fats, antioxidants, and fiber. Give your brain a kick start: eat the following foods on a daily or weekly basis for results you will notice.

20 foods that will supercharge your brain:

1. Avocado

Start each day with a mix of high-quality protein and beneficial fats to build the foundation for an energized day. Avocado with scrambled eggs provides both, and the monounsaturated fat helps blood circulate better, which is essential for optimal brain function. Worst alternative: a trans-fat-filled, sugar-laden cream cheese Danish.

Green it: you don’t need to buy an organic avocado – conventional is fine. But make sure your supplementary protein is free range, cage free, or organic.

2. Blueberries

These delicious berries are one of the best foods for you, period, but they’re very good for your brain as well. Since they’re high in fiber and low on the glycemic index, they are safe for diabetics and they do not spike blood sugar. Blueberries are possibly the best brain food on earth: they have been linked to reduced risk for Alzheimer’s, shown to improve learning ability and motor skills in rats, and they are one of the most powerful anti-stress foods you can eat. Avoid: dried, sweetened blueberries.

Green it: buy local and organic, and be mindful of seasonality. When blueberries are out of season, opt for cranberries, grapes, goji berries, blackberries or cherries to get your brain boost.

3. Wild Salmon

Omega-3 fatty acids are essential for your brain. These beneficial fats are linked to improved cognition and alertness, reduced risk of degenerative mental disease (such as dementia), improved memory, improved mood, and reduced depression, anxiety and hyperactivity. Wild salmon is a premium source, but we’ll highlight a few other sources on this list for vegetarians and people who just don’t like salmon. Avoid farmed (read: sea lice infested) salmon.

Green it: the California salmon stock is threatened, so choose wild Alaskan salmon only, and eat small portions no more than twice a week.

4. Nuts

Nuts contain protein, high amounts of fiber, and they are rich in beneficial fats. For getting an immediate energy boost that won’t turn into a spike later, you can’t do better than nuts. The complex carbs will perk you up while the fat and protein will sustain you. Nuts also contain plenty of vitamin E, which is essential to cognitive function. You don’t have to eat raw, plain, unsalted nuts, but do avoid the ones with a lot of sweetening or seasoning blends. Filberts, hazelnuts, cashews, and walnuts are great choices, with almonds being the king of nuts.

For those avoiding carbs, macadamia nuts are much higher in fat than most nuts. By the way, peanuts just aren’t ideal. Aside from the fact that many people are allergic, peanuts have less healthy fat than many other types of nuts…maybe that’s because peanuts are not actually a nut! They’re still much better than a candy bar, however.

Green it: try to choose organic, raw nuts, and if you can’t get those, at least avoid the tins of heavily-seasoned, preservative-laden nuts that may have taken many food miles to get to your mouth.

5. Seeds

Try sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flax seed, and tahini (a tangy, nutty sesame butter that tastes great in replacement of mayo and salad dressing). Seeds contain a lot of protein, beneficial fat, and vitamin E, as well as stress-fighting antioxidants and important brain-boosting minerals like magnesium.

Green it: Again, just look for organic and try to avoid the highly-seasoned, processed options. In general, things like fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts are pretty low-impact, environmentally speaking, in comparison to meats and cheeses.

6. Coffee

Thine eyes do not deceive (even if you are in the midst of a sugar crash). Coffee is good for your brain. Did you know coffee actually contains fiber? That’s going to help your cardiovascular system. Coffee also exerts some noted benefit to your brain in addition to providing you with a detectable energy boost.

The trick is not to have more than a few cups. But you can safely enjoy 2-4 cups daily – we are talking about supercharging here. Just please don’t go ruining a good thing by loading it up with sugar! Espresso beans are actually a phenomenally healthy snack, by the way.

Green it: brew yourself some fair-trade organic coffee to benefit both the planet and the workers who grow your beans. Use a thermos instead of a throwaway cup.

7. Oatmeal

Nature’s scrub brush is one of the best foods for cardiovascular health, which translates to brain health. Additionally, oatmeal is packed with fiber, a reasonable amount of protein, and even a small amount of Omega-3’s. It’s a good grain that will sustain you throughout the morning so you aren’t prone to irritability or an energy crash.

Green it: the healthiest oatmeal is the real, steel-cut deal. Steer clear of those little microwavable packets that are loaded with sugar. All that packaging isn’t very green.

8. Beans

One more for carb-lovers. (The brain uses about 20% of your carbohydrate intake and it likes a consistent supply.) Beans are truly an amazing food that is sadly overlooked. They’re humble, but very smart. Not only are they loaded with fiber, vitamins, minerals and protein, they’re ridiculously cheap. An entire bag of beans usually costs only a few dollars and will provide many meals. Beans provide a steady, slow release of glucose to your brain – which means energy all day without the sugar crash. Don’t go eating a whole platter of frijoles, though – just 1/4 of a cup is fine.

Green it: look for heirloom beans that are raised sustainably, like those from Rancho Gordo.

9. Pomegranate

Opt for the fruit over the juice so you get more fiber. Pomegranates contain blueberry-like levels of antioxidants, which are essential for a healthy brain. Your brain is the first organ to feel the effects of stress, so anything you can do to offset stress is a smart choice.

Green it: pomegranates are seasonal and not generally local for most of us, so enjoy sparingly and rely on other berries like acai, grapes and cherries when you can’t get this fruit.

10. Brown Rice

Brown rice is a low-glycemic complex carbohydrate that is excellent for people sensitive to gluten who still want to maintain cardiovascular health. The better your circulation, the sharper your brain.

Green it: don’t buy the excessively-packaged “boil in a bag” rice packets. Just make up a big batch of brown rice in a rice cooker on Sunday so you have it on hand for easy lunches all week.

11. Tea

You have to brew tea fresh or you won’t get the benefits of all those catechines (antioxidants) that boost your brain. Because tea has caffeine, don’t have more than 2-3 cups daily.

Green it: buy organic, fair trade loose leaf or packets to support sustainable business practices.

12. Chocolate

Things are looking increasingly better for chocolate. It’s got brain-boosting compounds, it’s loaded with antioxidants, and it has just the right amount of caffeine. Chocolate sends your serotonin through the roof, so you’ll feel happy in short order. Dark chocolate is also rich in fiber. (Remember, fiber = healthy cardiovascular system = healthy brain.)

Green it: go for super dark, fair-trade, pure organic chocolate, not the sugary, processed milk chocolate candy bars.

13. Oysters

Oysters are rich in selenium, magnesium, protein and several other nutrients vital to brain health. In one study researchers found that men who ate oysters reported significantly improved cognition and mood! Not all shellfish are good for you but oysters are a sure bet.

Green it: oysters are actually one of the most eco-friendly seafood options, so eat up!

14. Olive Oil

Though we know the brain does need a small, steady supply of glucose, don’t overlook fat. Studies have consistently shown that a low-fat diet is not the health boon we hoped it would be (remember the 90s low-fat craze?). In fact, avoiding fat can increase foggy thinking, mood swings, and insomnia. A diet rich in healthy fats is essential to clear thinking, good memory, and a balanced mood. Your brain is made of fat, after all.

One study of men found that those who relied on the processed vegetable fats found in salad dressings, snacks and prepared foods had 75% higher rates of mental degradation (dementia, memory loss) than men who ate healthy fats. Most processed foods and fast foods use corn oil, palm oil, soybean oil and other Omega-6 fats. You don’t want Omega 6 fats. Even saturated fat is safer than Omega 6’s.

Choose healthy fats such as those present in olive oil, nut butters, nuts and seeds, flax, oily fish, and avocados. Avoid processed fats found in pastries, chips, candy bars, snacks, junk food, fried foods and prepared foods. Eating the wrong fat can literally alter your brain’s communication pathways.

Green it: look for organic, local, or farmers’ market options when it comes to your food. You should also explore herbal remedies for mood swings and brain health.

15. Tuna

In addition to being another rich source of Omega-3’s, tuna, particularly yellowfin, has the highest level of vitamin B6 of any food. Studies have shown that B6 is directly linked to memory, cognition and long term brain health. Generally, the B vitamins are among the most important for balancing your mood. B6 in particular influences dopamine receptors (dopamine is one of your “feel good” hormones along with serotonin).

My personal cocktail: SAMe (nature’s happiness molecule) and a mega-dose of B-complex keeps me humming even when I’ve got a mountain of work to do. Which, like you, is all the time.

Green it: only eat tuna from sustainable fisheries, and if you’re looking for a B6 source that is vegetarian, opt for a banana, which contains a third of your day’s requirement (tuna offers nearly 60%).

16. Garlic

Garlic – the fresher the better – is one of the most potent nutritional weapons in your arsenal. Eat it as much as your significant other can stand. Not only is it fabulous for reducing bad cholesterol and strengthening your cardiovascular system, it exerts a protective antioxidant effect on the brain.

Avoid: I know it makes life easier, but don’t even think about buying the chopped or peeled garlic. Nutritional benefits = zero.

Green it: just choose organic, and go for local if you can get it.

17. Eggs

Eggs contain protein and fat to provide energy to your brain for hours, and the selenium in organic eggs is proven to help your mood. You really needn’t worry about the overblown cholesterol fears. (I have quite a bit to say on this topic but I’ll restrain myself for once.)

Green it: choose organic, free range, vegetarian fed eggs.

18. Green Leafy Vegetables

Spinach, kale, chard, romaine, arugula, lolla rossa – whatever green you like, eat it daily. Green, leafy vegetables are high in iron (slightly less “green” iron sources include beef, pork and lamb). Americans tend to be deficient in iron, which is too bad, because the deficiency is linked to restless leg syndrome, fatigue, poor mood, foggy thinking, and other cognition issues.

Green it: choose organic, and shop at your farmers’ market or order from a local CSA. Leave out the red meat a few days a week and rely on a big, well-seasoned green stir fry or salad.

19. Tomatoes

Go figure, but tomatoes don’t usually make the brain-boosting food lists. (Thank goodness I found the one that did so I’m not the only one.) Tomatoes contain lycopene, an antioxidant that is particularly good for your brain – it even helps prevent dementia. You have to cook tomatoes to get the lycopene – take that, raw foodies! Just kidding. But this does mean that ketchup is good for your brain. Although because of the sugar in it, you should look to other sources for most of your lycopene intake, such as fresh tomato sauce.

Green it: try to eat tomatoes that are local and get your lycopene in vitamin form when tomatoes aren’t in season. You’ll know when that is – the tomatoes will be pale, tasteless, and pithy.

20. Cacao nibs

That’s right, I’m putting chocolate on this list twice. My boyfriend knows I need it. I eat chocolate or cacao nibs daily and I think you might want to consider it, too. Cacao nibs are among the top five most powerful brain foods, right next to wild salmon and blueberries. My girlfriends and I like to mix cacao nibs with frozen blueberries and a generous splash of organic heavy cream while we watch really bad television on Sunday nights.

Green it: as long as it’s fair trade and organic, it’s green.

Things that drain your brain:

Alcohol kills your brain cells outright! Alcohol also interferes with dopamine production. Moderate amounts of alcohol, particularly resveratrol-rich red wine, can help improve your health, but anything beyond a glass or two of wine daily is a recipe for reduced brain function and energy loss.

Corn Syrup and Sugar lead to health problems like diabetes and obesity, and they’re terrible for your brain. Don’t eat sugar except on special occasions or as an infrequent treat. If you can’t cut back that much, try to limit yourself to just two bites of whatever tempts you daily.

Nicotine constricts blood flow to the brain, so while it may “soothe” jittery nerves, smoking will actally reduce your brain function severely – and the effects are cumulative.

A high carbohydrate lunch will make you sleepy and sluggish. Opt for a light meal with some quality protein, such as a salad with grilled chicken breast or vegetables and hummus or wild American shrimp and avocado.

Vita Search
Public Library of Science
PubMed

– with additional reporting by Sarah Irani

Each week here at EcoSalon, the editors choose a post from the archives that we think you’ll love. The original post can be found here.

Image: haydnseek

The post Ignite Your Brainpower with the 20 Smartest Foods on Earth appeared first on EcoSalon.

Wondering how much fish is safe to eat? I recommend following the government recommendations; not the bogus calculations from The Center for Consumer Freedom. I was first clued into the Center for Consumer Freedom’s fish and mercury calculator by Food & Water Watch’s Blog.

The Center for Consumer Freedom bills itself as an organization promoting personal responsibility and free choice in consumption habits, but it is best known for opposing government smoking bans in public places and was, in fact, started with seed money from Phillip Morris. More recently, the center has fought nutrition labeling requirements on restaurant menus. I’m all for free choice, but to make a fully-informed free choice, consumers need information and transparency.

Users of the calculator have only to enter their weight and usual portion size of different kinds of fish they consume and the calculator spits out the amount of fish the user can safely eat per week, in pounds, before being in danger from mercury poisoning. According to Food & Water Watch, the calculations are bogus. The calculator in question ignores the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) uncertainty factor that accounts for variations in sensitivity to mercury in the population.

This is a real concern. Safety margins are a good thing. You see, I actually know someone who was diagnosed with mercury poisoning from eating fish. In general, she ate a tuna sandwich several days of the week and sushi fairly often. She certainly didn’t eat the pounds and pounds of fish that the How Much Fish Calculator says a person of her size can eat without becoming sick. (Here’s an article from Mother Jones about a woman who became sick from eating canned tuna, which many people think should carry a warning label.)

Maybe these two people were more sensitive to mercury than others and that’s why they became sick, but that’s precisely why the EPA uses the reference dose it does – to take into account sensitive populations. The EPA explains it thus: “In general, the RfD is an estimate (with uncertainty spanning perhaps an order of magnitude) of a daily exposure to the human population (including sensitive subgroups) that is likely to be without an appreciable risk of deleterious effects during a lifetime.”

Far worse, I think, is the Center for Consumer Freedom’s lack of warning for pregnant women. Children are particularly susceptible to nervous system damage while their brains and nervous systems are still developing. According to the EPA in its studies on mercury, “the nervous system is considered to be the most sensitive target organ.” Naturally lower weight individuals (and fetuses) are in greater danger of accumulating dangerous levels of mercury.

According to the EPA, “Investigators have found that the placenta is not a barrier to the transfer of methylmercury from the mother to the developing fetus. Typically, a strong correlation exists between maternal-blood mercury concentrations and fetal-blood mercury concentrations, as shown by cord-blood. Overall, data from these studies indicate that cord-blood mercury is higher than maternal blood mercury.” Not only does the calculator not account for pregnant mothers, but The Center for Consumer Freedom encourages pregnant women to eat lots of fish for smarter children!

With recent news on NPR of a Federal study showing widespread mercury contamination throughout the nation’s streams, it behooves consumers to err on the side of caution when eating fish.

Not sure if you’re getting too much mercury with your Omega-3’s? See the actual government recommendations on fish consumption. Personally, I’d add tuna to that list, both canned and fresh, unless you know that it came from a small, young species of tuna. All large, longer-lived species at the top of the food chain tend to bio-accumulate toxins in their flesh as they age.

Image: rubberslippersinitaly

This is the latest installment in Vanessa Barrington’s weekly column, The Green Plate, on the environmental, social, and political issues related to what and how we eat.

The post Mercury in Seafood: How Do You Know How Much Fish You Can Safely Eat? appeared first on EcoSalon.

We need to save our oceans, and quickly. The most recent and widely cited report on fisheries predicts a complete global fisheries collapse by 2048 and asserts that ninety percent of large fish such as tuna and swordfish are already gone.

Other than the people using seafood wallet cards and reading eco-blogs, does anyone care?

In a 2008 report on the US Marketplace by Seafood Choices Alliance, chain restaurant operators report that only 22% of their customers are concerned about the environmental condition of the oceans. According to retailers, 25% of their customers are concerned. They better start caring because all-you-can-eat shrimp platters might not be the only casualty of the coming catastrophe. All life on earth depends on the health of the oceans. Even ours.

Not surprisingly, if consumers don’t care, few retailers and restaurants will take action because, after all, their job is to give consumers what they want or to go out of business. If retailers and restaurants won’t take action, neither will the wholesalers. Only 37% of retailers decided not to sell a certain seafood because of environmental considerations, according to a 2007 survey.

The terribly sad thing about this nearly imminent collapse is that it’s preventable. Though pollution, ocean acidification, and global warming all play a part, overfishing is by far the largest problem. And the most fixable. According to the book Bottomfeeder, we are vacuuming the bottom of our oceans clean.

We need a multi-pronged plan:

1. Consumers (and that means everyone) need to step up and push retailers and wholesalers to do the right thing. The power of the purse truly is a force to be reckoned with, but it has to be collective to work.

2. Governments need to cooperate on regulations and enforce fishery quotas.

3. New policies need to be put in place to protect fisheries.

Point 1: How do we get consumers to care? I truly believe that people would care if they only knew how bad it was. It’s not in the seafood seller’s business plan to let their customers know. That’s why I believe in-your-face tactics like some of Greenpeace’s recent campaigns can be really effective. Their ability to raise consumer awareness can push retailers to do the right thing.

Greenpeace’s recent brilliant attack on Trader Joe’s is a case in point. They used the attack, Twitter and humans dressed as giant orange roughy outside the stores to protest Trader Joe’s sales of endangered fish. The campaign was barely out of the gate before Trader Joe’s announced it would follow Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch recommendations for purchasing seafood.

Then there was the protest against the high-end Manhattan Restaurant, Nobu. It got a lot of attention, including in the New York Times.

Lamely, Nobu chose to leave the fish on the menu but to tell customers that it’s endangered and they should choose something else.

Less well-publicized, Greenpeace also puts out a seafood scorecard that allows consumers to assess how well their favorite supermarkets do in terms of sourcing sustainable seafood.

Another novel idea is that of consumer supported fisheries. Or Seafood CSAs: These seem promising from the point of view of supporting the smaller scale fisherfolk and keeping them in business. Such schemes, though great, are likely to be adopted by so few people that they won’t make a huge difference in the future of our oceans on their own.

In addition to consumer-focused efforts and campaigns, other ideas are being floated to help save our oceans. In order to do away with what is called the tragedy of the commons, some fisheries experts and governments (including ours) are proposing a privatization plan that provides individual transferable quotas that fisherfolk bid for. The logic is that everyone will have a vested interest in conservation. The plan does seem to have worked in some places. But I suspect, as usual, the devil is in the details. Critics say that such a plan will force smaller fisherfolk out of the game in favor of the large fleets that cause most of the destruction in the first place.

Up until now, governments have been lousy at cooperating to save our fisheries and oceans. The problem with global trade is that everyone has to commit to supporting bans on certain types of equipment or fishing moratoriums on certain species. That is slowly changing. The Pew Environmental Group recently formed a coalition dedicated to reforming the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy.

And even more recently, France’s President Sarkosy announced his support for a ban on the sale of bluefin tuna. The British fisheries minister joined the ban, and more are likely to follow.

It’s clear from all of this, that everyone needs to do his or her part. How can you do yours? Here are six easy recommendations:

1. Educate yourself about what is sustainable and what isn’t. Try reading a book on the subject. The wallet cards such as Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch cards are great, but a subject as complex as this deserves further study.

2. Know the big three. The three most popular types of seafood in America are also the most environmentally problematic – salmon, shrimp and tuna. Stay away from farmed salmon and eat wild salmon as a special occasion food. Find out where your shrimp was farmed or caught. If it’s really cheap, you probably shouldn’t eat it. Most species of tuna are endangered and high in mercury, too. Enjoy the small species (such as skipjack) if they are hook and line (not long line) caught, and only once in a while.

3. Give that supermarket sushi a pass. It’s full of cheap tuna, salmon, and shrimp. See above.

4. Develop a love for sardines, both canned and fresh. They are great for you (full of Omega-3s), are low on the food chain and are abundant.

5. This is the hardest one. You have to spread the word. Remember, people don’t know this information, so you have to tell them. It’s hard to talk to people about their food choices without being seen as an annoying, judgmental killjoy, but find a nice way to tell your friends and family members that they might want to lay off the canned albacore or treat it as a special occasion food.

6. Be Hopeful.

Further Learning:

End of the Line
Bottomfeeder
A Good Catch
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
Fish Forever
Seafood Lovers Almanac

Image: Jonathan Assink

The post It’s Time to Get Serious about Overfishing appeared first on EcoSalon.

Our national innocence regarding the safety of our food supply is fast eroding. From salmonella in tomatoes and peanut butter, to E. coli in spinach, how can we trust that the food we eat is safe and the government we pay taxes to is paying attention?

Two recent examples: Last fall, Mother Jones broke the story that canned tuna contains dangerous levels of mercury and that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) knew this when it left canned tuna off the seafood advisories it released in 2001. This week, two studies are out showing that nearly one-third of popular food and drink products listing High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) as the first or second ingredient contain mercury.

So much for that standby childhood lunch of a tuna sandwich and a soda – children are especially susceptible to mercury poisoning.

In the case of mercury contamination of HFCS, Grist reports that the FDA has known about it since 2005 and that the information was finally revealed when a researcher left the agency and published her work in one of the studies just released.

The Corn Refiners Association, conveniently located in Washington D.C. near Capitol Hill, released a statement about one of the studies saying, “This study appears to be based on outdated information of dubious significance.” And while it’s true that not all HFCS is produced using the chemical processes that cause mercury contamination, much of it still is.

In addition to its prior knowledge of the mercury contamination in HFCS, the FDA has done its part in helping HFCS become the ubiquitous ingredient it is. In 1983, the FDA formally listed high fructose corn syrup as safe for use in food. That decision was reaffirmed in 1996 and in 2008, when the agency classified HFCS as a “natural” product.

Despite the FDA’s friendly stance, HFCS had a publicity problem long before the sweetener was found to be contaminated with mercury. Nutritionists have linked the pervasive ingredient to obesity and other health problems.

To counter bad publicity, The Corn Refiners Association launched an approximately $30 million public relations and advertising campaign last summer to convince consumers that HFCS was safe and as natural as sugar. Full page newspaper ads and television commercials ran in the nation’s most prominent media outlets. The blogosphere, including Ecosalon, was not convinced.

In the case of canned tuna, the FDA released an updated advisory in 2003 listing chunk light canned tuna as a “low mercury” seafood. Though the agency didn’t require this information to appear in stores or on tuna cans, the mild warning caused a minor drop in sales. The industry responded by launching a major $25 million campaign touting tuna’s Omega-3 fatty acid content and other health benefits.

Faced with the knowledge that our government agencies are more interested in protecting industry profits than protecting our health, what are we to do?

Trust your instincts. If a cheap, highly subsidized and highly processed ingredient suddenly shows up in a lot of different foods, be suspicious.

If the government drafts an advisory warning the public about contamination of a commodity product (like tuna) but pointedly avoids warning the public about branded versions of that commodity (canned tuna) be suspicious. Tangled red tape is a warning sign.

Be wary of major advertising campaigns by industry groups. You can bet if X industry trade group is spending millions of dollars trying to convince you that a particular product or ingredient is good for you, it probably isn’t.

Speak up.
Tell the new administration in Washington that you want the government to put your health before the health of agribusiness balance sheets.

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One of my favorite places to eat in London is a cheap and cheerful little sushi restaurant in the heart of the West End, just around the corner from Leicester Square.

If you are a tourist in London, you’ll almost certainly visit this area. It’s the centre for London’s theatre scene, and a stone’s throw from Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery, Covent Garden with its funky boutiques, and the nightclubs of Soho.

If you find yourself in need of sustenance then Tokyo Diner, between Leicester Square and Chinatown, serves great sushi, sashimi and Japanese noodles at very reasonable prices. The vibe is simple with wooden furniture and few pretensions – check out the live webcam on the website if you like. The staff are extremely friendly and in keeping with Japanese tradition, do not accept tips. Any money “accidentally” left on the table will be returned or donated to a local charity.

The best thing about Tokyo Diner is the fact that they deliberately don’t serve tuna. Don’t get me wrong, I love tuna. But global over-fishing has brought tuna stocks almost to the point of collapse. The fish are hunted by airplane through the Pacific Ocean, while in the Mediterranean they are captured before breeding age and kept in fattening pens. Tuna fish are the cheetahs of the sea and like any predator, a natural eco-system doesn’t support them in great numbers. The species simply can’t keep up with our growing appetite.

The species most at risk is bluefin tuna and this has been disappearing off menus for some years now – London sushi chain Moshi Moshi is among the restaurants that has stopped serving bluefin. However, yellowfin tuna is also at risk – in fact, over-fishing is a serious risk for all tuna species, with the possible exception of skipjack. Another problem is that fishing methods, particularly longline fishing, have a significant by-catch. In other words, tuna fishing frequently means the death of large numbers of young tuna and other fish species, as well as endangered turtles, sharks, and marine mammals.

The best way to ensure sushi is sustainable is to avoid tuna altogether, as Tokyo Diner has done.

Not in London and not planning to visit? Well, there’s sustainable sushi in San Francisco and probably in your city too. In Japan they’re even serving venison as an alternative, which seems a little unorthodox to say the least.

Please share your sustainable sushi secrets for your city in the comments. And if this is something lacking in your city, then perhaps it’s time for a little lobby work – after all, all restaurants respond to public demand. Tokyo Diner is a case in point – it made its decision as a result of feedback from customers.

Image: grendelkhan

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