FDA, NOAA Declare Guld Seafood Safe

SN STAFF

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have declared 96% of the Gulf of Mexico's waters safe for commercial and recreational fishing, after chemically testing more than 1,700 samples of Gulf fish, shrimp, oysters and crab and finding trace amounts of oil and oil dispersants on only 13 of the samples.

During the peak of this summer's Deepwater Horizon oil spill, only 37% of the Gulf's waters were declared safe for fishing.

"The overwhelming majority of the seafood tested shows no detectable residue, and not one of the samples shows a residue level that would be harmful for humans," FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said in a statement. "There is no question Gulf seafood coming to market is safe from oil or dispersant residue."