“Safe” Fish
Its hard to know what to eat these days. One day we hear something is good for you and the next day we hear a new study that shows it had a hidden characteristic now makes it dangerous. Fish and other seafood seem to be a classic example of this, the two biggest problems we hear about today being high levels of mercury, and environmental impacts.
I was curious as to what the cross-product of these lists would be, specifically:
I AM NOT A DOCTOR, NUTRITIONIST, OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT WOULD MAKE THE FOLLOWING STATEMENTS MEDICALLY SOUND.
Everyone should read the following FDA statement on What You Need to Know About Mercury in Fish and Shellfish (particularly for children and pregnant/soon-to-be pregnant women).
So by comparing these two lists I see that the “safer” fish appear to be (lower levels of mercury as well as environmentally sensitive):
- Catfish (Farmed)
- Clams (Farmed)
- Crab (Snow, maybe King)
- Oysters (Farmed)
- Salmon (Wild Pacific)
- Sardines
- Shrimp (Trap caught, not farmed)
- Tilapia (Farmed)
- Trout (Farmed)
If you expand this list to include fish that isn’t on the “low” mercury list but isn’t on the “really high” list, or that are listed as “Caution” on the environmental:
- Bass - Medium mercury levels
- Cod (Pacific) - Atlantic supplies are overfished
- Halibut (Pacific) - Medium mercury levels
- Lobster (Pacific) - Medium mercury levels
- Tuna - Medium mercury levels
- Scallops (Bay) - Concern for farming methods
- Squid - Risk of overfishing
Note that there are a few known low-mercury or safe-environment fish on here that I couldn’t find on the other lists, so I left them out: Mackeral, Mahi Mahi, etc. The FDA/CFSAN Seafood Information and Resources page is useful as well.
