Editing Seafood (section)

==Health hazards==
{{See also|Health hazards of eating fish|Mercury in fish}}

[[File:Barracuda with prey.jpg|thumb|[[Barracuda]] found in Florida are avoided due to a high risk of ciguatera. The same fish found in Belize presents a lesser risk due to the lower prevalence of ciguatera-causing dinoflagellates in the Caribbean. Thus, knowing a fish's origin and life history is essential to determining its health hazards.]]
[[File:The build up of toxins in a food chain.svg|thumb|Organic and inorganic compounds including [[methylmercury]], [[microplastics]], and [[polychlorinated biphenyl]]s (PCBs) can bioaccumulate to dangerous levels in [[apex predator]]s like [[swordfish]] and [[marlin]].]]
There are numerous factors to consider when evaluating health hazards in seafood. These concerns include marine toxins, microbes, [[foodborne illness]], [[Radioactive contamination|radionuclide contamination]], and man-made pollutants.<ref name=":0" /> [[Shellfish]] are among the more common [[Food allergy|food allergens]].<ref>{{cite web | title = Common Food Allergens | url = http://www.foodallergy.org/allergens/index.html | publisher = [[Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network]] | access-date = 24 June 2007 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070613040928/http://www.foodallergy.org/allergens/index.html | archive-date = 13 June 2007 | df = dmy-all }}</ref> Most of these dangers can be mitigated or avoided with accurate knowledge of when and where seafood is caught. However, consumers have limited access to relevant and actionable information in this regard and the seafood industry's systemic problems with mislabelling make decisions about what is safe even more fraught.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Landrigan |first1=Philip J. |last2=Raps |first2=Hervé |last3=Cropper |first3=Maureen |last4=Bald |first4=Caroline |last5=Brunner |first5=Manuel |last6=Canonizado |first6=Elvia Maya |last7=Charles |first7=Dominic |last8=Chiles |first8=Thomas C. |last9=Donohue |first9=Mary J. |last10=Enck |first10=Judith |last11=Fenichel |first11=Patrick |last12=Fleming |first12=Lora E. |last13=Ferrier-Pages |first13=Christine |last14=Fordham |first14=Richard |last15=Gozt |first15=Aleksandra |title=The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health |journal=Annals of Global Health |date=2023 |volume=89 |issue=1 |pages=23 |doi=10.5334/aogh.4056 |issn=2214-9996 |pmid=36969097|pmc=10038118 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[Ciguatera fish poisoning]] (CFP) is an illness resulting from consuming toxins produced by [[Gambierdiscus toxicus|dinoflagellates]] which bioaccumulate in the liver, roe, head, and intestines of [[Coral reef fish|reef fish]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Ansdell|first=Vernon|title=Seafood Poisoning|date=2019|work=Travel Medicine|pages=449–456|publisher=Elsevier|doi=10.1016/b978-0-323-54696-6.00049-5|isbn=978-0-323-54696-6}}</ref> It is the most common disease associated with seafood consumption and poses the greatest risk to consumers.<ref name=":0" /> The population of plankton that produces these toxins varies significantly over time and location, as seen in [[Red tide|red tides.]] Evaluating the risk of ciguatera in any given fish requires specific knowledge of its origin and life history, information that is often inaccurate or unavailable.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Brand|first1=Larry E.|last2=Campbell|first2=Lisa|last3=Bresnan|first3=Eileen|date=February 2012|title=Karenia: The biology and ecology of a toxic genus|journal=Harmful Algae|volume=14|pages=156–178|doi=10.1016/j.hal.2011.10.020|pmid=36733478 |pmc=9891709 |bibcode=2012HAlga..14..156B |issn=1568-9883}}</ref> While ciguatera is relatively widespread compared to other seafood-related health hazards (up to 50,000 people suffer from ciguatera every year), mortality is very low.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=2013-03-20|title=Ciguatera Fish Poisoning—New York City, 2010-2011|journal=JAMA|volume=309|issue=11|pages=1102|doi=10.1001/jama.2013.1523|issn=0098-7484|doi-access=free}}</ref>

[[Scombroid food poisoning]], is also a seafood illness. It is typically caused by eating fish high in histamine from being stored or processed improperly.<ref>{{Cite web |title = Scombroid Fish Poisoning |url =https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/ScombroidFish%20Poisoning.aspx|website = California Department of Public Health|access-date = 2024-03-22}}</ref>



[[Fish]] and [[shellfish]] have a natural tendency to concentrate inorganic and organic toxins and pollutants in their bodies, including [[methylmercury]], a highly toxic organic compound of mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and microplastics. Species of fish that are high on the [[food chain]], such as [[Shark meat|shark]], [[swordfish]], [[king mackerel]], [[albacore tuna]], and [[tilefish]] contain higher concentrations of these bioaccumulates. This is because bioaccumulates are stored in the muscle tissues of fish, and when a predatory fish eats another fish, it assumes the entire body burden of bioaccumulates in the consumed fish. Thus species that are high on the [[food chain]] amass body burdens of bioaccumulates that can be ten times higher than the species they consume. This process is called [[biomagnification]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=Madeleine |last2=Love |first2=David C. |last3=Rochman |first3=Chelsea M. |last4=Neff |first4=Roni A. |date=2018 |title=Microplastics in Seafood and the Implications for Human Health |journal=Current Environmental Health Reports |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=375–386 |doi=10.1007/s40572-018-0206-z |issn=2196-5412 |pmc=6132564 |pmid=30116998|bibcode=2018CEHR....5..375S }}</ref>

Man-made disasters can cause localized hazards in seafood which may spread widely via piscine food chains. The first occurrence of widespread [[mercury poisoning]] in humans occurred this way in the 1950s in [[Minamata, Kumamoto|Minamata]], [[Japan]]. Wastewater from a nearby chemical factory released methylmercury that accumulated in fish which were consumed by humans. Severe mercury poisoning is now known as [[Minamata disease]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Osiander|first=A.|date=2002-10-01|title=Minamata: Pollution and the Struggle for Democracy in Postwar Japan, by Timothy S. George. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 2001, xxi + 385 pp., $45.00 (hardcover ISBN 0-674-00364-0), $25.00 (paperback ISBN 0-674-00785-9)|journal=Social Science Japan Journal|volume=5|issue=2|pages=273–275|doi=10.1093/ssjj/05.2.273|issn=1369-1465}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> The 2011 [[Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster|Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster]] and 1947 – 1991 [[Nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll|Marshall Islands nuclear bomb testing]] led to dangerous radionuclide contamination of local sea life which, in the latter case, remained as of 2008.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Johnston|first1=Barbara Rose|last2=Barker|first2=Holly M.|date=2020-03-26|title=Consequential Damages of Nuclear War|doi=10.1201/9781315431819|isbn=9781315431819|s2cid=241941148}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

A widely cited study in [[JAMA (journal)|JAMA]] which synthesized government and [[MEDLINE]] reports, and meta-analyses to evaluate risks from methylmercury, dioxins, and polychlorinated biphenyls to cardiovascular health and links between fish consumption and neurologic outcomes concluded that: <blockquote>"The benefits of modest fish consumption (1-2 servings/wk) outweigh the risks among adults and, excepting a few selected fish species, among women of childbearing age. Avoidance of modest fish consumption due to confusion regarding risks and benefits could result in thousands of excess CHD [congenital heart disease] deaths annually and suboptimal neurodevelopment in children."<ref name=":1" /> </blockquote>