How to Lower Your Risk From the Chemicals in Seafood

Oysters
Oysters sponge chemicals, so I check where they’ve been raised. If they were near a military base, the Chesapeake, the lower Puget, or urban centers, then I won’t touch them. It requires a little effort, but you can do this by checking Google Maps for the oyster farm’s location in relation to nearby military bases and urban centers. 

Shrimp
While I occasionally break some of my own rules, I always avoid shrimp farmed outside the U.S. If it’s in the budget, buy wild-caught, and ideally, those with trustworthy certification. If it’s not in the budget, buy shrimp farmed in the U.S. 

Tuna
CR’s tests of mercury in canned tuna found much lower levels in skipjack and light tuna than in albacore. As CR said, “None of the albacore tunas in our tests had levels low enough for an adult to have three servings a week.” That same logic may hold for PFAS in tuna, though very little testing for it exists.  Pole & Line, which is certified by the Marine Stewardship Council and available in Whole Foods, is among my preferred brands. CR advises avoiding tuna altogether if you’re pregnant. 

Seafood from the Great Lakes, Chesapeake Bay, and Puget Sound
I live in Detroit, so it pains me to skip Great Lakes fish, but the lakes sit in the nation’s industrial heartland. Compared with other freshwater fish in the U.S., they show some of the highest levels of PFAS, PCBs, dioxin, mercury, DDT, and a range of other pollutants. And while there are few things as glorious as digging into a platter of Maryland blue crabs, I typically don’t eat seafood from mostly enclosed bodies of water, even those as big as the Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound. They’re polluted by urban centers and military bases around their shores or industry along rivers emptying into them. Seafood from each has been found to contain staggering levels of PFAS, PCBs, and other toxins. 

I wish I had better advice, and I’m open to suggestions. But what I tell my friends, readers, and colleagues is to limit the consumption of seafood from these waters.