Category Archives: Seafood is Safe to Eat

SEAFOOD IS SAFE TO EAT

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Seafood in the United States is now safer than ever, in part due to a federally mandated inspection program that began in 1997.

HACCP, or Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, is a science-based, food safety monitoring program used by the food industry to control the risks associated with certain food products.

Though retail markets remain exempt from the HACCP regulations, they are encouraged by the FDA to apply the same principles.

Even though seafood inspection programs exist, consumers also play a role in seafood safety. Choose your retail market carefully, and handle and serve food with care in your home. Here are a few tips when purchasing your fresh seafood at a local market:

• Buy only from reputable sources.
• Buy only fresh seafood that is properly iced or refrigerated.
• Don’t buy cooked seafood if it is in the same case as raw seafood.
• Don’t buy frozen seafood if packages are damaged or broken.
• Get seafood home and on ice or refrigerated quickly.

Enjoy your fresh North Carolina seafood!

Adapted from: Mariner’s Menu: 30 Years of Fresh Seafood Ideas

Contributed by David Green

SEAFOOD IS SAFE TO EAT

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Approximately 2 percent of adults and 5 percent of infants and small children in the United States suffer from food allergies.

The cause is natural allergenic proteins found in food that can pose a health risk to sensitive individuals.

Symptoms include a tingling sensation in the mouth, swelling of the tongue and throat and difficulty breathing. More severe cases include hives, vomiting, abdominal cramps, diarrhea and a drop in blood pressure.

The eight foods defined as major food allergens are:

• Milk
• Eggs
• Fish (e.g., finfish; salmon, cod and flounder)
• Crustacean shellfish (e.g., crab, lobster and shrimp)
• Tree nuts
• Peanuts
• Wheat
• Soybeans

Food allergic consumers must learn to avoid those foods which make them ill.

For industry, the basic safety controls for allergens are product declarations (labeling) and monitoring in processing operations to prevent cross contamination among foods.

The Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 requires that all FDA-regulated packaged foods that contain a major food allergen to clearly identify the name of the food source.

For more information on seafood allergens visit the FDA website.

Contributed by David Green