RETAILERS CONSIDER RAPID TESTING FOR MERCURY IN FISH

ROSEANNE HARPER

COTTONWOOD, Calif. - Since Holiday Quality Foods here launched a line of fresh seafood certified to be low in mercury, other chains have followed suit or are exploring the testing.

New technology makes rapid testing for mercury feasible and relatively inexpensive. Still, the cost - 30-some cents per pound wholesale - is a hurdle for some chains. Retailers said they're weighing the expense against the advantages of being able to market seafood with mercury levels that fall below the federal government's standards.

Lower-mercury fish could be a sales boon, because consumers are becoming increasingly aware of the mercury content of fish, retailers said. That's particularly true in California where state regulations require retailers to post large signs that convey the government's warnings about mercury.

"It would be nice to be able to promote low-in-mercury fish especially when we have that big, ugly sign up now that tells consumers about mercury and calls out species likely to be high in mercury content," said Pete Davis, senior director of meat/seafood/sushi at upscale Bristol Farms, Carson, Calif. Bristol Farms is a division of Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons.

Rapid testing "is definitely something we want to pursue and we're working through our vendors, trying to figure out what to do. We're looking at different options," Davis said.

Holiday Quality Foods's distributor, Pacific Seafood Group, Sacramento, Calif., is rapid testing fish with the equipment and technique developed by Micro Analytical Systems Inc., San Rafael, Calif., and selling it under the Safe Harbor label. The brand, belonging to Micro Analytical Systems, consists of product certified to contain less mercury than that allowed by federal government standards.

Sam's Clubs in Northern California recently started carrying the Safe Harbor brand. The club stores display handout materials that describe the seafood's attributes and a sheet of frequently asked questions.

"Several big supermarket chains have shown interest and we're talking to a small West Coast chain now, but this is national," Chuck Holman, Pacific Seafood's retail sales manager, said last week. "We're also talking to a chain in the South and in Texas."

The rapid testing is a breakthrough because it used to take days to get results back, and testing cost up to $800. Pacific Seafood's testing with the MASI system adds 30-40 cents a pound to the wholesale price of its Safe Harbor certified low-mercury fish.

Holiday Quality Foods absorbs the higher cost of the products it purchases from Pacific Seafood. Chain officials, when they rolled out the seafood to all 19 of the chain's stores, made the decision not to pass the cost on to customers - at least not initially, they said.

Retail prices on seafood are already high. Davis at Bristol Farms said he's reluctant to take on more cost and said he's exploring other options. The chain's primary seafood vendor, who has a number of food-service as well as retail accounts, is looking to buy rapid-testing equipment outright, write off the cost, and absorb the cost of the testing.

"They figure it's a valuable service that will bring them incremental business. So it would be a good deal for them, and certainly for us," Davis told SN.

"There are options out there. Listen, if we can get [rapid-tested fish] without the incremental costs, we'll have a leg up," he said. "But even if we have to pay something, we will do it. I think every good retailer is looking at it."