MURKY WATERS

LYNNE MILLER

Are concerns about mercury hurting the seafood industry?

It depends on who you ask. Americans are eating more seafood these days. Per capita consumption of fish hit 16.6 pounds in 2004, more than a pound above the 1999 level, according to the National Fisheries Institute, McLean, Va. Certain species, including shrimp and tilapia, are gaining in popularity.

Yet, consumers are also aware of mercury in seafood, and that's a concern for retailers and processors.

"Because of the mercury warnings we've had to post, we've seen our tuna and swordfish sales drastically reduced over the last two years," said Dave Parrish, director of perishables for Holiday Quality Foods, a Cottonwood, Calif.-based chain.

The issue is on the radar in California, perhaps more so than in any other state. For a few years, the state's food retailers have been required to post signs in seafood departments informing shoppers of the federal advisories related to mercury, a neurotoxin that is found in many types of fish as well as ordinary household items like thermometers and batteries.

In California, the fallout has triggered interest in rapid testing, a new technology that lets companies screen fish for mercury and provides results in minutes. Holiday started testing its fish at distributor Pacific Seafood Group's facility in Sacramento, Calif. Workers use a syringe and biopsy needle to remove a sample for insertion into the testing device developed by Micro Analytical Systems, San Rafael, Calif. The device produces test results in less than a minute, Parrish said.

A few weeks ago, Holiday launched the country's first line of low-mercury fresh fish under the Safe Harbor brand. The rollout gained the attention of the local media, and got a warm reaction from

consumers. It's too early to say what the long-term impact will be, but Parrish is hopeful the line will restore consumer confidence in seafood, and, of course, boost sales.

"We've had consumers quit eating fish, which is a sad thing," Parrish said. "We know because of concerns about mercury, many of them have turned away from eating seafood."

Rapid testing is a breakthrough. In the past, companies had to wait several days to get results, and the cost was exorbitant, said Chuck Holman, retail sales manager for Pacific Seafood.

"It used to cost $600-$800 a test," Holman said. "It wasn't economically feasible for that cost. Now we can do it for pennies on the dollar."

Officials at Bristol Farms are looking into rapid testing, but the cost could be a hurdle, said Pete Davis, senior director of meat, seafood and sushi for the Carson, Calif.-based chain of 11 stores. Bristol Farms is a division of Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons.

"One thing we're doing with regard to mercury is working with our suppliers to secure the equipment to literally test all our products," Davis said. "It's a valuable service. There are services out there that'll do that for you, but I've heard it's 30 to 40 to 50 cents a pound at wholesale. That would translate to a lot at retail. If you're selling a few thousand pounds of swordfish and tuna a week, that adds up to a lot at retail. It can add a lot of cost to an already expensive product."

Davis was hard-pressed to calculate the impact mercury's had on sales of tuna and swordfish, two of the most popular items in the seafood departments. Overall seafood sales are strong, he said. Nevertheless, associates at the service seafood counters field questions regularly from shoppers who are leery of mercury.

"We get a fair amount of questions about the mercury levels," he said.

Seafood sales actually increased in the year after mercury advisory signs went up in the seafood departments at Wild Oats Markets. The Boulder, Colo.-based chain of natural food stores voluntarily posted the signs not only in its California stores, but throughout the company. At the same time, the retailer promoted seafood in store fliers and worked vigorously to make the seafood departments a destination, said company spokeswoman Sonja Tuitele.

"From 2003 to 2004, overall sales went up 20%," Tuitele said. "We didn't stop carrying tuna and swordfish. We have not suffered any economic repercussions."

Similarly, Giant Eagle stores have provided information on mercury to shoppers in the stores and on the company's website with no apparent negative impact on seafood sales, a company spokesman told SN.

"There has been nothing that leads us to believe that this issue has had any effect on our seafood sales," said Daniel Donovan, spokesman for the Pittsburgh-based retailer. "Customer concerns regarding the mercury issue have been very limited."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Environmental Protection Agency's joint advisory addressed the risk mercury poses to women in their childbearing years, pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children.

The groups are advised:

To avoid eating shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish because of their high mercury levels.

To eat up to 12 ounces a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury, including shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock and catfish. Albacore tuna contains more mercury than canned light tuna, but the groups can still eat up to 6 ounces of albacore per week.

To check local advisories about the safety of fish caught by family and friends in local lakes, rivers and coastal areas.

While the advice is aimed strictly at specific groups, many consumers do not make that distinction, said NFI spokeswoman Stacey Viera. "It's troubling, for instance, when a middle-aged man thinks he should limit his seafood consumption because of concerns over mercury," she said. "That's simply not true."

It's clear the guidelines raised red flags, based on comments that came up in focus groups that were held to measure reaction to the advisory. Some consumers said they would eliminate fish entirely from their diets to avoid any risk.

Many pregnant women said they were likely to reduce the amounts of fish that they would eat during their pregnancy. Others said they planned to use the guidelines to determine how much fish to serve their children and themselves.

"We don't support point-of-purchase labeling just because of how the studies have shown consumers can misinterpret this information," Viera said. "Pretty consistently, we've tried to help consumers understand the benefits of seafood consumption far outweighs any potential risk because of methylmercury exposure."