Food Safety – Fish and Seafood; Simple Solutions

Seafoods generally contain high level of water pollution contaminants from the sea. Two pollutants of great concern to doctors and health providers are toxic mercury and carcinogenic PCBs. Radioactive materials are also found in fish and seafood harvested near marine dump sites or oil producing areas.

Seafood is a highly perishable product, hence chemical preservatives are added to seafood to keep it fresh and clean. Common chemicals that can be found are Sodium Benzoate, Sulfites, Polyphospates, etc. These chemicals prevent the breakdown of amino acids into biogenic amines and ammonia.

Safe Mom Solutions

The quality of seafood is measured by smell and appearance. Fresh fish should have a mild, pleasant odor and bright, shiny skin with the scales tightly attached. Fish with the head intact should have clear, bulging eyes and bright red, moist gills. The flesh of fresh fish should be firm and elastic to the touch.

I remember when I was pregnant; I would go to Publix and ask if their salmon was harvested from nonindustralized coastal areas or deepwater. Deep water seafood is the best since human activities may have not interfered with their systems. 

If you eat fish as a regular part of your diet, find a local fresh-fish market where it’s easy to find out the sources of the fish you buy and find out if its treated with chemicals. According to the FDA, here is a number of seafood you should avoid.

*Tomorrow we will continue with Meat, Poultry and Eggs. Please do not forget to enter our current Seventh Generation Natural Baby Starter Kit Giveaway.