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Sticky rice, seaweed, and some type of fish are the main ingredients in sushi a delicious cuisine that originated from Japan. Sushi is delicious in my opinion, although the price of sushi can be high at times. The types of fish that are used in sushi have been accused of containing high levels of mercury. High levels of mercury can affect human health negatively. Some consumers were warned not to eat sushi anymore because the tuna that’s used in sushi may contain high levels of mercury. This issue was brought to the public eye by reporters and editors.
The news quickly impacted many foodie’s and the fishing industry took a big hit. Sales of tuna and other fishes plummeted. The editors and publishers were basing their argument on a British Biology study/review. This study showed that different fish species depending on the environment in which they occupy will impact the amount of mercury level they possess along with different types of feed fishes consume play a crucial role in mercury level. Although mercury is bad for humans this is just one side of a whole picture. Fish is an excellent source of lean protein, low in fat, and a whole food that contains omega-3s fatty acid. All of these things are beneficial to human health and diet.
This accusation was rash and did not consider the pros of fish consumption. It ignored all benefactors of fish and primarily focused on mercury levels that may and perhaps affect human health. This argument of fish being bad for human health due to high mercury levels falls apart when the U.S. Foods and Drugs administration released a comment about the issue stating that “The fact is the FDA mercury limit for seafood includes a 1,000 percent safety factor (“FDA’s action level of 1 ppm for methyl mercury in fish was established to limit consumers’ methyl mercury exposure to levels 10 times lower than the lowest levels associated with adverse effects.) And approaching that limit or even slightly exceeding it does not equal health risk.” This then proves that the argument made about consuming sushi containing fish may lead to health risks due to high mercury levels in the fish is false, because the FDA performs tests on everything that we consume to regulate and make sure that all food consumed by humans are safe. Sushi is still a great dish that uses fresh seafood that is safe and should be consumed without fear of health risks due to high mercury level in the fishes used.
Source:
“Media Urged to Use Caution in Reporting on Latest Study on Sushi and Mercury.” Rev. of SeaFood Consumption. About SeaFood. The National Fisheries Institute (NFI), 22 Apr. 2010. Web. 20 Oct. 2013.
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