tuna safety

[StartinOver-68]

SO68....for your eyes only...

That would be me........ LOL

[IowaGuy]

I think the mercury warnings for fish are a bit overhyped myself. It is up to your own good judgement what you think.

Everything in moderation I believe.

[GREENFEATHER]

im pretty sure I saw tuna labeled mercury free either at sprouts or whole foods or maybe another organic store, name eludes me right now.

Why did you feel the need to dredge this post back up? Can you not use the search function? If you're so worried about the heavy metal concentrations of pelagic fishes, DON'T EAT THEM FFS!!!

It's a fact of life that if you're eating your bodyweight every other day in foods there's going to be a buildup of contaminates. This is the reason I'll only eat tuna that's harvested from now until the beginning of March. They've been way out to sea and there are less contaminates out there. Tuna, Mahi, Marlin and Swordfish eat 40-60% of their BW every other day. You need a hell of a lot of energy to catch dinner and to avoid becoming dinner yourself, it's the law of the jungle.

[BurritoMan]

Heavy metals (in this case specifically methyl mercury) aren't what you want in your body. Starkist sells tinned wild Alaskan Pink Salmon for about the same price as Tuna. It is quite nice and Salmon is very low mercury compared to Tuna. In fact has less of a stink than Tuna. There does seem to be some crunchy bits in there - crushed bones I suppose - that I don't much care for but better than ingesting heavy metals. Give it a try at least.

Tilapia is very nice in case anyone hasn't tried it, also very low mercury, although a lot is farmed. Probably everyone knows to stay away from Albacore even though Albacore was once thought to be the premium Tuna.

Manmade sources of mercury are mainly from coal and steel industry via air pollution but natural sources are even greater. The mercury is processed into Methyl Mercury by bacteria.

By the way the whole getting rid of mercury thermometers thing is a waste of time as that is like 0.1% of the problem.

[asuguy]

Why did you feel the need to dredge this post back up? Can you not use the search function? If you're so worried about the heavy metal concentrations of pelagic fishes, DON'T EAT THEM FFS!!!

It's a fact of life that if you're eating your bodyweight every other day in foods there's going to be a buildup of contaminates. This is the reason I'll only eat tuna that's harvested from now until the beginning of March. They've been way out to sea and there are less contaminates out there. Tuna, Mahi, Marlin and Swordfish eat 40-60% of their BW every other day. You need a hell of a lot of energy to catch dinner and to avoid becoming dinner yourself, it's the law of the jungle.

easy. high blood pressure will catch up to you. also, I don't see how you can conclude from my post that I care about heavy metals in tuna, in fact, I myself barely eat tuna.

[rickyj1968]

Hey CT. Forget the mercury content, don't you go nuts from the lack of variety in your diet? There are a lot of great protien shakes available that are pre-packaged with between 20 to 30 g of P at anywhere from 100 to 160 calories. Same for cottage cheese? If your prepping for a contest I can understand the need for extra protien with low calorie intake? What are you going after? What's the end goal?

-Rick

[Sean Casey]

I eat 3-4 cans of tuna per day and have never had any problems. Maybe I'm just lucky.

[StartinOver-68]

I eat 3-4 cans of tuna per day and have never had any problems. Maybe I'm just lucky.

I'll bet you can tell the temperature without a thermometer. Just kidding.

[Sho-stopper]

I eat 3-4 cans of tuna per day and have never had any problems. Maybe I'm just lucky.

In fact you might be....so far

I never got into the whole Mercury thing until I had a patient in the hospital that was admitted with strange neurological disorders (myoclonus, transient amnesia..etc) After all the CT scans and MRI's of the brain they couldn't determine what the cause was....Until an astute neurologist had him checked for Mercury poisoning after ready his history of eating Albacore tuna 2-3 times a day 5-6 days per week. Sure enough the mercury levels in his body greatly elevated. So I do believe there is some merit to this subject.

It reminds me of the whole Mercury poisoning from dental fillings. Very intriging I'll leave a link for you to read.

http://www.sonic.net/~nexus/amalgam.html

[ChickenTuna]

Hey CT. Forget the mercury content, don't you go nuts from the lack of variety in your diet? There are a lot of great protien shakes available that are pre-packaged with between 20 to 30 g of P at anywhere from 100 to 160 calories. Same for cottage cheese? If your prepping for a contest I can understand the need for extra protien with low calorie intake? What are you going after? What's the end goal?

-Rick

hi Ricky, I wouldn't be prepping for a contest because I don't do those and have no interest. I just like having a fit lean body, is that so nuts? And I don't care about having variety in my meals, I'm eating for purpose not for fun and excitement.

I have been eating tons of tilapia lately.

[Mark1T]

hi Ricky, I wouldn't be prepping for a contest because I don't do those and have no interest. I just like having a fit lean body, is that so nuts? And I don't care about having variety in my meals, I'm eating for purpose not for fun and excitement.

I have been eating tons of tilapia lately.

It's not nuts, Ms. Tuna. I for one am appreciative of your efforts

[StartinOver-68]

hi Ricky, I wouldn't be prepping for a contest because I don't do those and have no interest. I just like having a fit lean body, is that so nuts? And I don't care about having variety in my meals, I'm eating for purpose not for fun and excitement.

I have been eating tons of tilapia lately.

WOW, I can only imagine what you'd look like if you got serious !!

[bigluke39]

Many, many years ago Hat makers use mercury to help form the hats, and after years of doing that work many would go crazy from mercury, so an expression came about. "Madder then a hatter" But most of you are probably to young to know that.

I don't think you have anything to worry about with tuna.
In High School we used to break the mercury tubes and play with the mercury for hours. And I'm not all that crazy. (Ok, bad example!)

[GREENFEATHER]

Everything in moderation folks, I guess I should have stopped the other night. Asu, my apologies to you. I've been under quite a bit of stress the last week and I shouldn't have said what I did the way I did.

On to the topic at hand. Like I said in the original post, when you're eating 40-60% of your bodyweight a day in other fish that feed on fish that feed on microbes there's going to be a build up of something. One of my best friends is writing a dissertation on this very subject and his findings should be published in the next year or so. His findings will be UNBIASED, his family is filthy rich and he answers to no one. This is something that I know a little about, I've written 2 papers on populations and I am an advisor to several agencies. For the most part, Tuna, Mahi and Sworfish are relatively safe. I will only eat them this time of year and I'll only eat Big Eyes because they're on their way back from the other side of the Atlantic. I need to get my old hard drive operational because I have several beacons on there that you can actually track the tuna. This is why I fish this time of year, we tag and release about 50-60 and keep 3 to eat. If you think you're in shape, come with me for the day. In 24 hours you'll be totalled, I guarantee you'll never come back unless you're into back and bicep pain.

What everyone should be scared ****less over is what the effects of years of dumping nuclear waste at sea will do to the fisheries when they break open and start leaking their deadly cargo. No I'm not some eco-Nazi, but I do care about the environment. The estimates that I have seen is between 100-700 metric tonnes of nuclear waste. The USA and Russia aren't saying how much they dumped so who the hell knows how much is down there, I'm betting those numbers are on the low side, WAY low.

Farm raised fish that are raised here in the USA are BEST!! I know how the tilapia and catfish I raise are treated and I can say without hesitation that my fish are not contaminated because I constantly change the water during the warmer months. Right now the flow is slowed because I heat the ponds. The Salmon that are farmed aren't treated as well, it's unfortunate but true. If you're going to eat Salmon, MAKE SURE IT'S WILD CAUGHT!!! You will get lead, mercury and other heavy metals in your pencil from farmed Salmon. The foods that are fed to them also tend to be chock full of nice things as well. I buy my krill that I use in my feed one time a year and I have 4,000 lbs flown in and I grind it up. M cringes when I say the plane just touched down, lol!! I buy them from one man and if he ever retires, I will have to go watch others to see where they collect theirs from, I'm that picky. Krill are filtre feeders and I DO NOT want shore caught krill to feed my fish, Valdez ring a bell ? I don't eat canned tuna, in fact, M will only make it after I've left for the day, I hate the smell that bad.

[Mark1T]

Glad you're around, Greeny. Great info

[GREENFEATHER]

Glad you're around, Greeny. Great info

It's kinda funny, those 3 paragraphs cost about $400,000 each!

[dbx]

One of my best friends is writing a dissertation on this very subject and his findings should be published in the next year or so. His findings will be UNBIASED, his family is filthy rich and he answers to no one.

Sorry GF, but we never know what bias might exist in the people that do research. Even "neutral" scientists often have their own agenda (for various reasons....most innocent), even if they sometimes don't even realize it themselves.

Carry on .

[INSANEREACH]

I eat around fifteen cans of canned tuna a week. Reading all the scare stories on the internet I sent an e-mail to the food standards agency (uk government agency) regarding tuna consumption.

I received a long detailed reply on this. Basically there is no limit on the amount of canned tuna an adult male can consume. There is for pregnant women and teenage girls however.

Fresh tuna is another matter and four 140g portions a week is the limit .

There is more to the e-mail than that, but that was the main part I was interested in. I trust the food standards agency more than internet scare mongerers and feel often they have another motive .

[GREENFEATHER]

Sorry GF, but we never know what bias might exist in the people that do research. Even "neutral" scientists often have their own agenda (for various reasons....most innocent), even if they sometimes don't even realize it themselves.

Carry on .

I know the man personally and he is a scientist FIRST AND FOREMOST and I will help him defend his dissertation.

[bigluke39]

Let me get this straight, I am 210#, so I should be eating upto 126# of food everyday? Did you just miss speak, or are you miss informed? Just asking!

On to the topic at hand. Like I said in the original post, when you're eating 40-60% of your bodyweight a day in other fish that feed on fish that feed on microbes there's going to be a build up of something.

[dbx]

I know the man personally and he is a scientist FIRST AND FOREMOST and I will help him defend his dissertation.

Didn't mean to upset you. If you hadn't underscored "Unbiased" and linked that with being rich and having no one to answer to, I wouldn't have even commented. I thought I worded my response appropriately, and certainly wasn't questioning your friend's integrity.

[GREENFEATHER]

Let me get this straight, I am 210#, so I should be eating upto 126# of food everyday? Did you just miss speak, or are you miss informed? Just asking!

No, lol!! Tuna, Mahi and swordfish eat that much. Sorry I confused you! Once again I forget you're not networked to my brain and don't have access to my files.

All of those fish are cannibalistic as well, meaning this years spawn will be fed on by last years spawn. Say a tuna lays 1,000,000 eggs, 700,000 at most will be fertilized. Another 200,000 will not make it out of the planktonic phase, less than 1 inch. The ones that reach fingerling size, 3-5 inches, will lose another 200,000. Once they reach about 10" they will go from hiding place to hiding place getting picked off as they go. 4 years later you *might* have 10 that made it out of that million eggs. The odds of being eaten are quite high out in the Gulf Stream.

[T Bone]

I've been very busy with work lately and to make sure I don't miss any meals, I've been eating tons of tuna out of convenience while I'm driving around. Mostly the Starkist pouches of tuna fillets..at least 3 a day while I'm working.

I know there is a 'safe' amount to eat according to the mercury bs, but is it really that bad to OD on tuna?

I think I'm more interested in finding tuna fillets then the mercury issue. I get the albacore in the same pouches packed in water but it's all chunk. I have never seen tuna fillets in the pouches it's all chunk at my store. Are you sure they are fillets? If it is in fact fillets where do you buy them?
Thanks

[mature_1_59]

Tuna safety:
Personally, I think all tuna under 30 pounds or 4 years of age should be required to ride in a car seat and wear a helmet when riding a bike.

[T Bone]

Tuna safety:
Personally, I think all tuna under 30 pounds or 4 years of age should be required to ride in a car seat and wear a helmet when riding a bike.

Are you by chance in congress?

[ChickenTuna]

I think I'm more interested in finding tuna fillets then the mercury issue. I get the albacore in the same pouches packed in water but it's all chunk. I have never seen tuna fillets in the pouches it's all chunk at my store. Are you sure they are fillets? If it is in fact fillets where do you buy them?
Thanks

no I just made it up, I must not know the difference between a fillet and chunk.

http://www.bumblebee.com/products_indiv.jsp?prodid=115

[GREENFEATHER]

no I just made it up, I must not know the difference between a fillet and chunk.

http://www.bumblebee.com/products_indiv.jsp?prodid=115

It doesn't matter what it's called, it all comes from the same place on the fish. A chunk is just a piece of the fillet, the fillet would be the whole side of the fish.

[goherd]

I'm like you, ChickenTuna. I eat those Starkist Albacore Fillets in the pouches like they're going out of style.

I've often wondered about my mercury intake as well.

My coworkers joke with me and ask me the current temperature all the time since I have enough mercury in my body to make a thermometer

By the way, I like the Lemon and Cracked Pepper the best. Which is your favorite?

[Baldsnake]

Warm fish hugs for Feather. When your chain is pulled a ton of great info flows forth.

[neonfxr]

I would like to weigh in on this subject briefly. I being a neon glassbender have dealt with liquid mercury every day for the last 15 years. I go occasionally to the doc to check for heavy metals in my blood. I've never had a problem. And I am subjected to mercury spills, vaporized mercury (it'll start to vaporize at about 98 F which my shop is about 110 F in the summer) So I know I'm subjected to way more mercury than most can from eating cans of tuna. I've not had mad hatters from my exposure. I would say alot of the mercury warnings is a whole lot of CYA going on. Don't be afraid to eat tuna, just do so in moderation, like anything in life. I hope this helps anyone afraid to eat tuna.
ps: One more short little story about mercury. When I first started I used to wear my gold wedding band. Mercury adheres to metals really well. After a mercury droplet touched my ring, it turned the whole thing silver. It was a nightmare to get it off. I used carwax and ultrasonic jewelry cleaner. Even with that I still didn't have mercury poisoning problems.