A new article by Consumer Reports says that Americans’ “favorite dish,” canned tuna, often contains trace amounts of toxic mercury such that children and pregnant women could “easily” consume more of the metal than the federal government recommends.
“The heavy metal accumulates in tuna and other fish in an especially toxic form, methylmercury, which comes from mercury released by coal-fired power plants and other industrial or natural sources, such as volcanoes,” the article says.
But the magazine is apparently not all that concerned about the dangers of tuna, as it offered revelers a sampling of the potentially deadly fish at a recent office Christmas party.
MediaPost.com has confirmed that Consumer Reports “welcomed the holiday season with open arms and spicy tuna tartare.”
Granted, the dish (here’s a recipe) calls for half a pound of sushi grade Ahi tuna, not the canned albacore Consumer Reports warned about in its latest issue.
And we have no reason to question the testing Consumer Reports conducted on the mercury amounts in the tuna – after all, heavy metals do bioaccumulate in fish.
Still, it’s a little fishy to serve tuna while warning of its dangers.
Requests for comment from Consumer Reports were not returned.