Diet and health
13.1 Are fish a crisis waiting to surface?
In addition to obesity, there is another dietary problem on the horizon: fish.
For many years, health campaigners and medical experts have been urging people to eat more fish. It will keep us healthier, we were constantly told. The fatty oils will keep our arteries in better condition and help us to ward off high
Crisis management in the food and drinks industry 137
blood pressure, strokes, and heart disease among other diseases as well as help in the fight against cancer.
But is that true, any more? Researchers are beginning to warn against eating too much fish, especially some of the oily varieties like tuna but also some bottom-dwelling varieties as well.
Why? What has brought about the change in advice? The answer is simple.
For centuries the sea has been the dumping ground for all sorts of rubbish.
At one time, the world’s oceans surrounded land masses that were not heav- ily populated. It did not matter if sewage was discharged into the sea or boats and sailing vessels threw their rubbish overboard. The oceans covered an enor- mous area of the globe—five times greater than the land—and the quantities of rubbish and sewage were small and easily disposed of or forgotten.
But the world has changed. Populations have exploded. Despite regulations, some ships continue to dispose of their rubbish over the side; oil tankers flush their tanks and discharge sea water from their ballast tanks into the oceans.
Worse still, the sea continues to be regarded as a convenient dumping ground for toxic chemicals and garbage, munitions and even nuclear waste.
In addition, untreated sewage continues to be discharged into the sea in many parts of the globe. The world’s population explosion is making the situ- ation worse day by day. Tourism is also aggravating the problem.
It is a daunting prospect, for instance, to gaze at Egypt’s Red Sea coastline.
It fringes what was once one of the most unspoilt underwater habitats in the world. Understandably, the country’s sandy beaches and hot, sunny climate attract growing numbers of tourists. But that very popularity could eventually be the ‘death’ of the sea unless the developments are regulated and controlled.
Realizing that tourism represents an enormous goldmine, local and inter- national businesses as well as entrepreneurs are creating more and more hotels and marinas along its sandy shores. Coral reefs are dredged up to pro- vide building materials for new construction work. But what will happen to the sewage and other rubbish from these new developments? Mostly, it will be disposed off in the time-honored fashion . . . into the sea where it will pollute the Red Sea and its marine life will die or be greatly reduced in numbers.
Of course, this situation is occurring in many parts of the world. Egypt is just one example. And who can blame the businesses and entrepreneurs who exploit the situation? There is desperate poverty in the countries concerned and tourism creates jobs and wealth. But eventually there will be a price to pay as there will be for every country in the world that does not take environmental matters to heart.
These are strong words and the author should admit to a deep interest in the issue because one of his hobbies is underwater photography. He has been diving for some 45 years and, like others who are fascinated by the world beneath the waves, he has seen fish populations decline and disappear from their previous haunts.
The issue of the health of the world’s oceans and seas was raised in the United Nations Environment Program’s first ever Global Environment Year Book which was launched to governments attending the Global Ministerial Environment Forum in Korea in March 2004.
138 Diet and health
A new report4by UNEP claimed there were nearly 150 oxygen-starved or dead zones in the world’s oceans and seas. The dead zones were linked to an excess of nutrients, mainly nitrogen that originated from agricultural fertil- izers, vehicle and factory emissions, and wastes. The report pointed out that low levels of oxygen in the water made it difficult for fish, oysters, and other marine creatures to survive and also affected important habitats such as sea grass beds.
The report continued: “Experts claim that the number and size of deoxy- genated areas is on the rise with the total number detected rising every decade since the 1970s. They are warning that these areas are fast becoming major threats to fish stocks and thus to the people who depend upon fisheries for food and livelihoods.
Klaus Toepfer, UNEP’s executive director, said: “Human-kind is engaged in a gigantic, global experiment as a result of the inefficient and often over-use of fertilizers, the discharge of untreated sewage and the ever rising emissions from vehicles and factories. The nitrogen and phosphorous from these sources is being discharged into rivers and the coastal environment or being deposited from the atmosphere, triggering these alarming and sometimes irreversible effects.
“Some of these so-called dead zones or oxygen-starved areas are relatively small, less than one square kilometer in size, whereas others are far larger at up to 70 000 square kilometers. What is clear is that unless urgent action is taken to tackle the sources of the problem, it is likely to escalate rapidly.
“Hundreds of millions of people depend on the marine environment for food, for their livelihoods and for their cultural fulfillment. Reducing the im- pacts of agriculture, human wastes and air pollution on the oceans and seas will be a key component in helping us to meet the Millennium Development Goals and deliver the World Summit on Sustainable Development’s Plan of Im- plementation in areas ranging from fisheries and biodiversity loss to sanitation and poverty.’’
Sometimes the effects of depleted oxygen levels are mild. On other occa- sions, they can be dramatic with fish fleeing the suffocating waters of the dead zones and creatures like clams, lobsters, oysters, snails and other slow-moving, bottom-living creatures dying en masse.
Some of the earliest recorded dead zones were in Chesapeake Bay in the United States, the Baltic Sea, the Kattegat, the Black Sea and the northern Adriatic Sea. The most well-known area of depleted oxygen was the Gulf of Mexico. Its occurrence was directly linked to nutrients or fertilizers brought to the Gulf by the Mississippi River. Others have been appearing off South America, China, Japan, south east Australia and New Zealand.
In some parts of the world, actions have been taken to reduce the quantities of fertilizer and sewage running off the land. In Europe, a number of countries agreed to halve the levels of nitrogen being discharged into the River Rhine. The move resulted in discharges to the North Sea being reduced by 37%. However, there was concern that more oxygen-starved areas would emerge in coastal
4http://mirror.unep.org/gc/gcss-viii/PresRelease E2.asp
Crisis management in the food and drinks industry 139
waters off parts of Asia, Latin America and Africa as industrialization and more intensive agriculture led to an increase in the discharge of fertilizer nutrients.
Some food manufacturers have displayed a responsible attitude to falling fish stocks. Bird’s Eye Foods in the United Kingdom, for instance, stopped using cod from the North Sea in their popular fish fingers some years ago. But when you range up and down the aisles of any supermarket or major store in the world and look at the shelves stacked with canned fish, especially tuna, and the freezer cabinets stocked with frozen fish it is difficult not to wonder how many other businesses will have the foresight to take similar steps to preserve the world’s declining fish stocks.
However, an indication of the threat that could be lurking in the sea is that in late March 2004 several national food safety agencies around the globe issued updated advice on limiting consumption of fish contaminated with mercury.
This followed the publication of a new European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) study.
Mercury occurs naturally in the environment and accumulates in the aquatic food chain, resulting in fish all containing some methylmercury. Therefore, for most people they are the main source of this chemical in the diet. Big, long- living or predatory fish tend to accumulate higher levels and human symptoms associated with the resulting low-level mercury poisoning include hair loss, fatigue, depression, difficulty in concentrating and headaches. Unfortunately, methylmercury cannot be cooked out.
The EFSA warned that estimated mercury intakes for European consumers were close to internationally safe limits. Per-country average mercury intakes were below but ‘at times rather close to’ the provisional tolerable weekly intake of 1.6µg/kg bodyweight for methylmercury established in 2003 by the joint Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives. Some high-level consumers exceeded this limit. Several per-country average intakes exceeded the more conservative limit established by the US National Research Council of 0.7µg/kg bodyweight/week.
This is what other agencies advised.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration and the Environ- mental Protection Agency announced a joint advisory on methylmercury in fish and shellfish for reducing the exposure to high levels of mercury in women who may become pregnant, pregnant women, nursing mothers and young chil- dren. At the same time, the two bodies continued to emphasize the benefits of eating fish and that both fish and shellfish can be important parts of a healthy and balanced diet. It pointed out that they are good sources of high-quality protein and other essential nutrients. However, as a matter of prudence, it suggested women might wish to modify the amount and type of fish they con- sume if they are planning to become pregnant, are already pregnant, nursing or feeding a young child.
They advised them not to eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel or tilefish, a bottom feeding food fish found in the Gulf of Mexico. At the same time, it ad- vised that five of the most commonly eaten fish that were low in mercury were shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish. Another commonly eaten fish, albacore or ‘white’ tuna, had more mercury than canned light tuna.
140 Diet and health
So, when choosing the recommended meals of fish and shellfish, one could eat up to six ounces of albacore tuna a week.
The two agencies also advised people to check local advisories about the safety of fish that might be caught by family and friends in local lakes, rivers or coastal areas. Otherwise, it suggested only eating up to six ounces a week of fish caught from local waters and that no other fish should be eaten during the same period.
They said the same advice should be followed when feeding fish or shellfish to young children but the portions should be smaller.
In June 2004, the California Attorney General’s office began legal action against the three biggest canned tuna companies in the United States for failing to give ‘clear and reasonable’ warnings about mercury levels in albacore and chunk light canned tuna. It was being claimed that by doing so they exposed the public to ‘known carcinogens or reproductive toxins’. Bill Lockyer was re- ported as stating that recent tests had shown that mercury levels were well above that which would require a food safety warning on the cans to com- ply with the terms of California’s Proposition 65 law because of their mercury content.
The defendants—Del Monte Foods, Bumble Bee Seafoods and Tri-Union Seafoods—claimed the lawsuit was baseless. In a robust defense of the in- dustry, the US Tuna Foundation said the suit was not grounded in science and would needlessly scare consumers away from affordable foods that were good for them. The Foundation declared that the industry was “prepared to demonstrate in court that canned tuna products are safe and that the industry is in full compliance with California’s Proposition 65 provisions’’.5
It declared that the industry’s perspective on the issue was consistent with the advice issued in March 2004 by the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency that states “fish and shellfish are an important part of a healthy diet and contain high-quality protein and other essential nutrients, are low in saturated fat, and contain omega-3 fatty acids’’.
The suit sought fines and a halt in sales until warning labels were posted in grocery aisles or attached to cans of the fish.
In August 2004, the tuna industry renewed its calls for a revision of the risk assessment for mercury in fish, saying there was “mounting evidence that the US was not aligned with the rest of the world when it comes to how methylmer- cury levels in fish are evaluated’’. It called for federal regulators to re-examine US policy “in the light of the real world experience of countries like Japan and the UK’’. Studies in these countries, claimed the foundation, showed that high fish-consuming populations had much greater concentrations of mercury in their systems without any evidence of resulting neurological problems.
In February 2005, a Congressional Review declared that the health benefits of consuming seafood far outweighed any risk due to trace amounts of mercury in some fish. The report stated that every scientific study had found that no-one in the US had “anywhere near the amount of mercury in the system from eating seafood known to cause health problems’’. The amount of mercury in the most
5www.tunafacts.com/press/2004/june21.cfm
Crisis management in the food and drinks industry 141
commonly consumed seafood, such as canned tuna, was well below the trace amounts allowed by the Food & Drug Administration and “far removed from any level of concern’’.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand issued similar advice for Australia only. Pregnant women, those intending to start a family and children should continue to eat a variety of fish as part of a healthy diet but limit their con- sumption of certain species. It advised these groups to limit their intake of shark (flake), broadbill, marlin and swordfish to no more than one serving a fortnight and to avoid eating any other fish during that same period. For orange roughy (also sold as sea perch) and catfish, the advice was to eat no more than one serving a week with no other fish being consumed during the same period.
The media were provided with simple charts to show the number of servings of different types of fish that could be consumed safely as well as a video news release for TV channels. Additional information was provided in the form of answers to common questions. Further information was provided about mercury in fish, the benefits of eating fish and a reminder of the Australian dietary guidelines plus reported fish intakes for the country.
Reference was also made to international advisory statements on mercury in fish made by the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Japan and the media releases contained links to them. It was pointed out that FSANZ’s advice had been specifically developed for the Australian population and reflected local knowledge of the country’s diets. Technical information in the statements by other governments was similar to that of FSANZ but the details might vary because the risk of mercury exposure from the diet for each population depended on the environment in that particular country as well as the types of fish commonly caught and eaten, the patterns of fish consumption and the consumption of other foods that might contain mercury.
FSANZ’s chief scientist, Dr Marion Healy, said: “Our investigations show that the level of mercury in most fish caught and sold in Australia is low.
This means we can all continue to enjoy the many benefits from eating fish without concern. Fish is an excellent source of protein for all people. It is low in saturated fats and high in ‘good’ unsaturated fat and omega 3 oils and is an excellent source of iodine. Because of this, it is important that women in particular continue to eat fish during pregnancy.
“However, some types of fish, usually those large species that are at the top of the food chain or that live a long time, may accumulate higher levels of mercury. We, therefore, advise against eating too much of these types of fish.’’
He added that it was important that people did not misinterpret the advice and stop eating fish because it was in their interests to eat portions on a reg- ular basis. However, pregnant women and young children should limit their consumption of those species with high mercury levels.
In Japan, a nation of fish eaters, the Department of Health advised pregnant women and those planning to start a family to limit their consumption of bottlenose dolphin to one serving of 60–80 g once in every two months or even less frequently. Meat from various whales—beaked, short-finned and sperm—
as well as some kinds of shark should be limited to one serving of a similar size once a week or less. Similar sized portions of swordfish and alfonsino, a
142 Diet and health
bottom-dwelling deep water fish found in the Pacific Ocean, could be eaten up to twice a week.
In June 2004, the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) advised that no one should regularly eat more than four portions of oily fish a week.
The Agency said that it considered the advice by the FDA was too cautious and that, for most people, the benefits to the heart and brain outweighed any risks.
After a year of research, the FSA recommended that girls and women of child-bearing age could safely eat one or two 145-g portions of oily fish a week. Men, boys, and post-menopausal women could eat up to four portions a week. The advice was different for girls and younger women because of the potential risk to babies in the womb.
Pregnant and breast-feeding women could eat between one and two portions of oily fish a week. However, the Agency said they should avoid eating large amounts of fresh tuna, shark, marlin, and swordfish because of concerns about mercury contamination.
Ironically, not many people in the United Kingdom will be affected by the advice. On average, they eat only one-third of a portion of oily fish a week.
Seven out of ten never eat any oily fish.
Further controversy is bound to involve fish in the future because apparently over 35 species of transgenic fish—including salmon, carp, catfish, zebrafish, and tilapia—are being raised and studied in many parts of the world. Environ- mentalists are already expressing fears that the introduction or escape of these fish could lead to the extinction of native populations. Also, they are warning that if transgenic fish escaped, the increased competition for food and shelter could affect the natural ecosystem.