Friends...Skip the Tuna for Awhile...

A study reported in today's NYT indicated that mercury levels in the tuna currently served in sushi restaurants in Manhattan are at an all-time high.

Samples were taken from popular restaurants and markets in the city:

"Tuna samples from the Manhattan restaurants Nobu Next Door, Sushi Seki, Sushi of Gari and Blue Ribbon Sushi and the food store Gourmet Garage all had mercury above one part per million, the “action level” at which the F.D.A. can take food off the market. (The F.D.A. has rarely, if ever, taken any tuna off the market.) The highest mercury concentration, 1.4 parts per million, was found in tuna from Blue Ribbon Sushi. The lowest, 0.10, was bought at Fairway."
-- MARIAN BURROS, NYT

Super-scary!

So friends, particularly preggers friends and friends who feed small children...please try to keep your regular raw tuna intake to less than 5 pieces a week...

...and YES that means EVERYBODY, from coast to coast!  We don't catch our tuna in Manhattan, people!  It comes from the same tuna stocks flown out daily and internationally distributed to all major cities (i.e. NY's tuna is LA's tuna is Honolulu's tuna is Tokyo's tuna, etc.).

Keep the big-fish foodchain in mind...the bigger the tuna species, the higher mercury count, which is why the Times and the EPA is zeroing on the bluefin tuna, the biggest, most expensive and most coveted tuna on the market.   

On the bright side, most of us are economically restricted, and can't afford a regular diet of bluefin tuna.  Hooray, poverty!

SO...as much as it pains me to say it, here are the big NO-NOs:

• Ahi (AKA bigeye tuna)
• Maguro
• Toro, O-toro, Chu-toro

If you need to get your tuna fix on, aim for the littler guys:

• Albacore
• Yellowfin (AKA hamachi, kanpachi)

...and keep it under 5 pieces a week, please! Humor me!!!! I CAN'T SPARE ANY READERS!!!!

P.S. Canned tuna tends to be big-species tuna, too, so lay off the tins as well...some companies, like Starkist, specifically offer albacore tuna, which is a better choice if you're really jonesing for that tuna salad sandwich.

Comments

[Billy]

Hey I like tuna fish~~~ in the raw.

Although I like Salmon better. I remember reading about wild vs farmed salmon. Wild having more mercury then farmed, but wild having better omega-3 fatty acid.

I wonder how that applies to Tuna?

[em]

I was just reading the article on NYT online. Yum's been anti-bigfish for some time now, and I guess I've gotta come to terms with reality and give up my tuna-lovin' ways too (as you could imagine, this country is crrrazy about bluefin... it's all about the Toro, even at the affordable chain sushi joints I frequent). In the meantime, we should all do our part and reduce energy consumption so we can help minimize mercury bombardment toward these poor (and oh so delicious) fishies.