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Is That Sushi Hazardous To Your Health?

pdclarry writes "A recent study by scientists at the American Museum of Natural History and Columbia University found that a piece of tuna sushi may not be tuna at all: 'A piece of tuna sushi has the potential to be an endangered species, a fraud or a health hazard,' wrote the authors. 'All three of these cases were uncovered in this study.' The study, published in PLoS ONE examined 68 samples of tuna sushi purchased from 31 restaurants in Manhattan (New York City) and Denver, Colorado. Some of these were from endangered species, others were not as labeled, and some were not tuna at all. Of these last, five samples labeled as 'white tuna' were from a toxic fish, Escolar, which is a gempylid species banned for sale in Italy and Japan due to health concerns. 'It can cause gastrointestinal symptoms ranging from mild and rapid passage of oily yellow or orange droplets, to severe diarrhea with nausea and vomiting. The milder symptoms have been referred to as keriorrhea [i.e. flow of wax in Greek].' Fraud in sushi is not new; Slashdot also reported study on mislabeling in 2008. This new study shows that some sushi can actually make you sick. The study was also covered by Wired."

14 of 554 comments (clear)

  1. Technically... by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 5, Informative


    If we're just talking about the tuna, then it's Sashimi.
    Sushi is vinegar rice, topped with other ingredients, such as fish.
    </pedantic>

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    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:Technically... by turbidostato · · Score: 5, Informative

      "The title asks if the sushi is hazardous, but the story is only about the fish"

      The story is not even that: is a non-story. Eating a mislabelled piece of raw fish might produce disease. Well, yeah...

    2. Re:Technically... by Joe+Decker · · Score: 5, Informative

      Technically, Oxford's lexicographic philosophy is more descriptivist than prescriptivist. Their stated intent is to document, record and communicate the language they find through actual usage. Thus, Oxford, while the gold standard of English lexicography (more so British usage than American, but it's pretty strong in either case) is not to be confused with an "ANSI standard." It's an entirely different thing, a better analogy might be the SIbley Guide.

  2. Re:Oh, so that's what happened. by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 5, Funny

    "It can cause gastrointestinal symptoms range from mild and rapid passage of oily yellow or orange droplets"

    "Tubgirl Tuna", they call it.

  3. Re:Yuck! Sushi! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Cavemen discovered that cooking meat was a good idea some millennia ago and we've been doing it since then, but some people never got the memo because they were on an island or something.

  4. Re:Possible none issue soon by Nethead · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...then at least stop eating top level carnivores.

    Not to worry, I don't eat humans on Atkins.

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    -- I have a private email server in my basement.
  5. Re:Possible none issue soon by WindBourne · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Actually, the idea is to breed the fish and then release millions upon millions of fingerlings into the various oceans. The real problem is how we got here and what will change. Basically, countries need to change. For example, the Atlantic tuna is about collapse. The reason is that overfishing is being done. By who? Well, America and Canada have STRICT limits on Canadian/American fleets which are checked pretty thoroughly. We also have foreign ships here that are under restrictions. Most are Chinese and Japanese. The japanese ships will dock at our ports, be checked, and then take the whole load back to Japan. OTH, The Chinese ships come in, drop off their max allowed load, and then show up back in China with a full load. IOW, they are taking another load on their way back (illegal, but easy enough to pull off from what I have heard). But that is not the full issue. EU has been horrible about putting restraints on their taking of the Tuna. And those nations that do, simply look the other way when the ship is over.

    What needs to happen is that ALL OF THE NATIONS that have fisheries need to protect these. It can not be so half ass anymore.

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    I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
  6. Re:Colorado and New York by LordKronos · · Score: 5, Informative

    If only there were an ocean closer to New York. It would be even better if that ocean had tuna of its own. Best of all would be if the tuna there was one of the most delicious varieties around, such that it was the most used tuna for sushi/sashimi. Wow...one can dream.

  7. Re:Escolar by jrumney · · Score: 5, Informative

    The poison in Fugu (the only poisonous species that is eaten in Japan) is localised and easily removed by the specially trained chefs who are licensed to prepare it. Escolar has its oil spread throughout the flesh, so for people who are sensitive to it, it is unavoidable.

  8. Re:So technically by wisty · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Butchering words is how languages grow and develop.

  9. Re:Yuck! Sushi! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    So why don't you eat actual Sushi instead of Sashimi, with something like chicken if you don't like raw fish?

    The more you know...... the less food you'll hate over pure ignorance.

    Somehow raw chicken just doesn't do it for me.

  10. Re:Possible none issue soon by welcher · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As it happens, saltwater aquaculture is widely practiced from Norway to Chile. It basically involves putting a cage out in the sea and growing fish in it.

    Of course, there are lots of reasons not to encourage most fish-farming like the fact that it requires huge amounts of wild fish to be caught, mulched and processed to be fed back to the "desirable" fish species that is being farmed. That is, fish farming uses more fish than it creates, thereby exacerbating the chronic overfishing problems that plague the seas.

  11. Re:post by sticky_charris · · Score: 5, Informative

    I ate some Escolar on holiday in Poland. It is also known as butter fish or something like that. In Poland it wass omething like Maszlanka? I had two very large fillets (smoked) and was told nothing about any side effects. It was delicious - very soft meat and very meaty. I ate it all and then when I got up the next day (early) I got ready to go for a jog. I was wearing very small running shorts. Basically this fish causes a reddish oil to build up in your gut and it seems to be able to leak out whenever it wants. A small early morning fart whilst jogging is enough to empt about two egg cup fulls in one go. It has no smell luckily. I was running in the woods when this happened so I immediately got behind a tree and let the rest of it go, and then cleaned off my legs with some ferns. It lack of odour is quite surprising, given where it has been, and it comes out completely separate from other solids. I didn't know at that point that the fish was to blame. So I bought more on the last day at the Baltic, and took it pack to my in-laws house in Wroclaw. I had some for lunch the next day in their home. That night I was ready for bed, and was sitting naked on the bed, which had been lovingly made up by my mother in law (new white linen all round). My gut had been fine since that earlier incident and for a moment I forgot where I was and let out some gas that felt like it had been building up all day. I felt a dampness, and suddenly the world seemed to close in around me, as I realised what may have happened. I jumped to my feet and saw *loads* of bright red oil all over the white sheets. Sweat just literally started sprouting out of my head as I thought about what to do next... sleep in it? Go and wake the in-laws? At this point (three years ago) I wasn't yet married even, and I had to sleep separately from my (then) girlfriend. They were all asleep already. I ended up sleeping on the other side of the bed. I woke up late, to find my girlfiend standing next to the bed with a look of horror on her face. Why she later married me I have no idea. Needless to say, I haven't eaten any of that nasty but delicious fish ever since.

  12. Magic by jDeepbeep · · Score: 5, Funny

    Because that's just what any employer wants to hear, more details about their employees' bowel movements!

    I've found there are two magic words, that when said together, sequentially, cause the listener to not care any further why you are going to not make it in to the office today.

    Word 1: Explosive
    Word 2: Diarrhea

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    Reply to That ||