Why
choose fish carefully?
First, fish can be highly contaminated with
toxic chemicals like mercury and PCBs, so you want to avoid eating tainted
species, particularly if you are pregnant, may get pregnant, are nursing, or
planning to serve the meal to a child. Second, the world's stocks of commercial
fish are, in many cases, being fished at unsustainable rates that are leading
to collapsing populations. That said, fish are a healthy meat, so many people
want to make fish a part of their diets.
A
great source of information about fish comes from the Environmental Defense
Fund's Seafood Selector,
which identifies which fish are both caught sustainably and are low in
contaminants -- and which are not. It has a searchable database of fish, and
also provides a handy wallet-sized card to take to the fish market.
According
to Consumer's Union, no fish label is highly meaningful, but each of the
following will tell you something:
Dolphin
Safe in
most cases certifies that tuna is caught without killing dolphins, but only
applies to the primary fishing grounds in the eastern Pacific, not to tuna
caught elsewhere.
FishWise is very useful for choosing sustainably caught fish and "somewhat meaningful" for determining contaminant levels.
Marine Stewardship Council is "somewhat meaningful"; while it provides consumers information about which fish are sustainably harvested, the standards used to determine what is "sustainable" can be inconsistent.
Safe Harbor is "somewhat meaningful" for choosing fish that are less contaminated (below median level) with mercury, but is not useful for comparing mercury levels between species. In other words, hypothetically, you may choose a Safe Harbor-labeled tuna that is less contaminated than other tuna, but it could be still more contaminated than an unlabeled swordfish.
Seafood Safe is "somewhat meaningful" for choosing fish that are lower in two common contaminants, PCBs and mercury. The label relies on data from the tests of random samples of fish
FishWise is very useful for choosing sustainably caught fish and "somewhat meaningful" for determining contaminant levels.
Marine Stewardship Council is "somewhat meaningful"; while it provides consumers information about which fish are sustainably harvested, the standards used to determine what is "sustainable" can be inconsistent.
Safe Harbor is "somewhat meaningful" for choosing fish that are less contaminated (below median level) with mercury, but is not useful for comparing mercury levels between species. In other words, hypothetically, you may choose a Safe Harbor-labeled tuna that is less contaminated than other tuna, but it could be still more contaminated than an unlabeled swordfish.
Seafood Safe is "somewhat meaningful" for choosing fish that are lower in two common contaminants, PCBs and mercury. The label relies on data from the tests of random samples of fish
Pix: Grant V. Faint / Getty Images
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