Sushi Otaku

Archive for the ‘Sushi and Health’ Category

“The US Food and Drug Administration issued an import alert today to detain farm-raised catfish, basa, shrimp, dace (related to carp), and eel from China until the shipments are proven to be free of residues from drugs that are not approved in the US for use in farm-raised aquatic animals. ” This was part of an email I received today from a member of a discussion group for seafood professionals of which I am a member. I have commented before regarding some of the issues around importing food from china (e.g. the ‘Monkfish’ from China that was really potentially deadly pufferfish) and it appears that the saga continues. More and more food from China is being deemed unsafe for consumption, which is rather topical as the Unites States imports about 21% of our seafood from China, and of that about $1.9 billion worth is farm raised fish, the subject of the latest FDA action. Many US states have outright banned the imports until they are able to test safely. Currently, much of this seafood is contaminated with salmonella, or contains pesticides, illegal antibiotics and other veterinary medicines, and the top reason was, interestingly, “filth” (I’m not sure if that is a legal term, but that’s a quote from the FDA). Shrimp accounted for approximately 50% of the rejected seafood.

So… What does this mean for sushi lovers? Well… It is fortunate that most sushi is from pelagic fish. And that means wild, not farm raised and not imported from China. Farm raised items on your sushi menu are generally the shrimp (ebi), eel (unagi, anago is a salt water eel), salmon (sake), and yellowtail (hamachi). Of these, the easiest to find ‘wild’ is salmon, but I say ‘easy’ with a caveat. While your fishmonger probably sells wild salmon, few sushi restaurants do, and if they do, they often charge a premium. Wild shrimp is also somewhat easy to find at your fishmongers, but again, not so easy at a restaurant. Good luck with the eel and yellowtail, which is nearly impossible to find as ‘wild’ served as sushi in North America. Fortunately for yellowtail lovers, yellowtail is raised in Japan in hatcheries and flown around the world frozen, as the yellowtail caught in US waters is generally too lean to be used for sushi.

That said, the FDA is not claiming that if you eat this contaminated it will kill you, but that long term consumption can cause health problems. While the FDA isn’t specifically mentioning what those problems may be, it’s not too hard to figure out what they are if we’re talking pesticides, salmonella, and ‘filth.’

Generally speaking, it seems that your sushi is safe. You might want to cut back a bit on the shrimp tempura and the unagi don, but shrimp does come from other countries too, and if you trust the FDA (although I’m not entirely sure if I do, but that’s another story) they will keep the bad stuff out of our food supply. Personally, I tend to stay away from farmed salmon anyway, it’s probably no better than the stuff they are trying to keep out of the country… I love eel, but will probably eat it sparingly, and I’ve always hated farm raised shrimp because it has a totally different taste and texture than the ‘wild’ shrimp (shrimp classic?). But other than that, I’m still going to indulge. I suggest we not let fear temper our taste buds and remain sensible about our sushi choices.

Meshi agare!
Warren
The sushi guy

N.B.

Additional details are available from:

· Questions and Answers on FDA’s Import Alert on Farm-Raised Seafood From China (a lot of good information for processors and consumers here) http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~frf/seadwpe.html

· FDA New Release, “FDA Detains Imports of Farm-Raised Chinese Seafood, Products Have Repeatedly contained Potentially Harmful Residues” http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2007/NEW01660.html

· Consumer Article on How FDA Regulates Seafood (this article also discusses how FDA protects consumers from unsafe seafood, mentions FDA regulatory and research programs, and the consumer’s role in seafood safety) http://www.fda.gov/consumer/updates/seafood062807.html

And people ask if sushi is safe to eat! The FDA has issued a warning to consumers regarding monkfish, as, apparently the Hong Chang Corp. has imported potentially deadly puffer fish (fugu) into the US and labeled it ‘monkfish,’ While fugu is a well regarded (and potentially dangerous) sushi dish, if not prepared properly the tetrodotoxins it can contain may sicken or kill a person. Monkfish, of course, contains none of these toxins, so what a surprise this must be to anyone who eats the mislabeled fish. Especially since this ‘monkfish’ will be sold by your normal fishmonger, ready to be put in a pan and cooked up at home. Common food storage and preparation techniques do not destroy tetrodotoxins, so while cooking the fish may kill bacteria, if it is poisonous, you’re in for an unexpected treat. Even touching contaminated fish can be enough to seriously injure or kill a person.

Fugu is a unique dish, prepared only by licensed chefs who are skilled in preparing the fish for safe dining. Even so, Japan reports a number of deaths per year related to fugu consumption, so when the fish is sold to unknowing consumers, either accidentally or negligently, it creates a very dangerous situation. It feels like one more example of the dangers of not knowing where your food is coming from or who is in charge of ensuring its safety (currently there are a number of investigations into imports, such as the poisoned pet food from China, as well as possibly contaminated toothpaste).

But, people often ask is sushi safe? Generally speaking, it is as safe as any other food, when prepared properly (with the exception of certain specialties such as fugu). I don’t hear many people ask about the safety of our other foodstuffs, but are worried about that piece of tuna being served rare in a restaurant. If ignorance is bliss, there are going to be a lot of happy people in the hospital as this story continues to develop.

I’ve continuously gotten questions about the requirements that make any fish ‘sushi grade.’ I’ve also always tried to find a good answer. But as it turns out, there isn’t one. By that I mean, in the United States, there are no FDA rules for what makes seafood ‘sushi grade.’ Basically, there is no such thing. The only thing that seems to matter is the basic procedures that will ensure the destruction of parasites. There is no mention whatsoever of any category of food that can be considered sushi grade. This basically leaves the decision up to the supplier as to which cuts they determine are sushi grade. So caveat emptor, and I suggest reading my ‘What is Sushi Grade Seafood‘ section of The Sushi FAQ for more information about this particular grade, if you will, of fish.

This is a question I get asked a lot. I have always been pretty conservative in answering for a variety of reasons, mostly because there *are* risks to eating raw foods for anyone, especially during pregnancy, and since I am not a doctor, I don’t want my musings interpreted as medical advice. That said, there are also reasons why I think pregnant women might want to eat sushi.

Seafood is good for you. Seafood is great for developing babies. The fatty acids found in seafood (Omega-3 fatty acids) are pretty much a requirement for growing babies, which means that women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should be consuming omega-3 fatty acids. And we generally don’t get enough of them in our diet. A new study in the British journal Lancet found, after analyzing data from approximately 9,000 British mothers and their children over an eight-year period, that pregnant women who ate less than 12 ounces of seafood a week did not protect their children from adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes. Limiting seafood during pregnancy can actually be a detriment to the developing baby. The study found that limiting seafood actually increased the child’s risk of poor verbal IQ development compared with mothers who ate more than 12 ounces of seafood per week. Those children were also at greater risk of poor social development and poor motor control. Not getting enough of the proper nutrients is obviously quite a detriment to a developing child.

In North America, doctors often suggest that pregnant women refrain from eating sushi due to the risks of parasitic and bacterial contamination. The problem is not always that the particular item you are eating might be bad, but also one of cross contamination. Any contaminated food that is cut with the same knife which is then used for your item, or placed on the same surface as your California roll, will cause your item to become contaminated. My wife and I struggled with this issue during her pregnancies and found two solutions. She only ate the cooked items and the first solution was to simply ask the itamae to use a clean knife and a different surface to make her rolls than the others. We are regulars at our favorite restaurant and were comfortable asking him, and when told she was pregnant, he was happy to oblige our request. We ate sushi a lot during her pregnancies

Our second solution was to make sushi at home. This may seem a bit intimidating to some, but is surprisingly fun and easy. In fact, you can find detailed instructions to make sushi at home at my How to Make Sushi at Home section of The Sushi FAQ. If you are making the sushi yourself, you should have pretty good control over the sanitary conditions, but unless you are sure of the surface and knife used to make your food, you may not be any safer eating California roll in a restaurant than eating the raw tuna.

For those interested in eating sushi when pregnant, California rolls are an excellent choice, as are other cooked items such as unagi maki (eel rolls), and the various tempura rolls that are often offered (e.g. shrimp tempura roll). If you are making sushi at home, your options expand greatly and you can make any kind of roll you want, for example, cooking salmon and making you own cooked salmon and avocado rolls (quite good, especially when still warm). Use your imagination and there are a number of great sushi items to pick from. My only other advice for pregnant women would be to avoid the larger predatory fish, such as swordfish, shark, and tilefish, as some contaminants, such as mercury, concentrate as they move up the food chain. But with sensible decisions, the sushi world is your oyster.

Meshi agare!
Warren
The sushi guy

There has been much back and forth over the years about the safety of seafood due to the potential of mercury contamination as this heavy metal moves up the food chain. While the health benefits of eating seafood (and that means sushi) are already widely known, the actual risk that consumers take upon themselves has been argued for some time now. Recently, a report from the Institute of Medicine has concluded that the benefits of eating seafood far outweigh the potential risks. To pull a few points from the report (the full text being available here):

1. Women who are or may become pregnant or who are breast-feeding may benefit from eating seafood, especially those kinds which have relatively higher concentrations of EPA and DHA. A reasonable amount would be two 3-ounce servings per week, but they can safely consume up to 12 ounces per week. They can consume up to 6 ounces of white tuna — that is, albacore — weekly, and should avoid eating large predatory fish such as shark, swordfish, tilefish, and king mackerel.

2. Children ages 12 and under are given the same guidance as pregnant women, except that serving sizes should be age-appropriate.

3. Adolescent and adult males and women who will not become pregnant may reduce their risk for cardiovascular disease by eating seafood regularly — for example, two 3-ounce servings per week. Those who consume more than two servings per week should choose a variety of seafood to reduce risk for exposure to contaminants from a single source.

4. Adult men and females who are at risk of coronary heart disease may reduce that risk by consuming seafood regularly — for example, two 3-ounce servings per week. There may be additional benefits from including seafood selections high in EPA and DHA, although supporting evidence is limited.

There are critics, of course, and some of their points are valid (e.g. mercury is bad for you) but the one thing that I think folks can take away from this report is that seafood, like many other foods, is good for you in moderation. Rather than jump on the bandwagon as say “Oh No! Mercury! it might make sense to put the food in context with the rest of the world. There is mercury in the soil, in the ocean water, and just about everywhere else you can imagine, thanks to the industrial revolution. That is not to say ‘don’t worry about it’ but what is important is to understand that in order to avoid it, you would have to live in a bubble. But seafood (or sushi) will not be the straw that broke the camel’s back, so to speak. Obviously there is no need to seek out things that may be more harmful than good, but seafood in moderation (and that mean sushi!) is a valid part of a healthful diet, and there is no need to avoid it for fear of contamination.

If you eat sushi as much as I do, you may have something to worry about, but for your average sushi restaurant-goer, eating sushi is a good thing. For many reasons, I worry about a lot of things that will affect the quality and duration of my life, but eating sushi is not one of them. Hopefully many of you feel the same way. Meshi agari!

Warren
The sushi guy.

Fish is brain food. We’ve heard that one for a long time, but many people may not realize how true that adage is. When I was young I heard that but never really thought about what it meant. I’m still not sure exactly what the original reasoning was, but as we learn more about the human body, and the effects of our diet on our health, that old saying sounds more and more important. Fish *really* is brain food. And fish is also heart food. And much more.

Some fish have more fat than others. Deep, cold water fish tend to have the most, as well as those who spend part of their life cycle in that environment. Fortunately for us, the fat that fish contain is of a particular type of fatty acids called Omega 3 fatty acids. The most well known of the Omega-3 fatty acids are Docosahexaenoic Acid (DHA) and Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Both of these fatty acids are fundamental building blocks of our own central nervous system as well, and like most other creatures, our bodies cannot manufacture them by itself (unlike other necessary substances like Vitamin D for example). We must either eat DHA and EPA or precursor Omega-3 fatty acids that our bodies can convert into DHA and EPA.

Omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA make up a large portion of the brain and are critical in the development of our eyes. Our modern diet has basically replaced many of the Omega-3s we historically ate (evolutionarily speaking) with Omega-6s (from oils like Canola oil that are used in abundance in our modern diet) and many feel that we suffer now for it. Basically, our brains, and the sheaths around all of our nerves are no longer made up of the proper fats as our bodies use Omega-6s in place of Omega-3s while we grow and develop. But Omega-3s do more than just act as brain goop. Studies have shown that the consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids has a beneficial effect on our cardiovascular system. DHA has been shown to increase the level of HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein, the”good” cholesterol) in the body, as well as lower the levels of LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein, the “bad” cholesterol). Their consumption has also been shown to increase the particle size of the LDL, all of which have been shown in studies to have an overall positive effect on cardiovascular health. The consumption of Omega-3 fatty acids has also been linked with helping the body maintain healthy blood sugar levels, especially important for those with diabetes. And recent studies have shown that a healthy level of Omega-3s in the diet may be a contributing factor in the delay or prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. Studies link Omega-3s to helping with depression, arthritis, and boosting the immune system. Essentially, by incorporating this much needed type of fat back into our diet, we can potentially ward off many of the health afflictions that have begun to plague us, presumably due to the effects of our modern diet lacking in this incredible and important nutrient.

Omega-3 fatty acids move up the food chain, manufactured by algae and accumulating in high concentrations in fish such as Salmon, Sardines, and menhaden (generally speaking, the more oily or fatty a fish is, the more Omega-3s they have). And those Omega-3s do their work in us when we eat those fish as sushi. And a raw piece of fish will have more fat than one that is cooked. Cooking fats can also change their properties, and even “good” fats can become “bad” fats when exposed to high heat. So sushi is really the way to go. There is a caveat, however. With the advent of “fish farms” and various other ways to grow our food in controlled environments, things have changed for fish as well. Just as we get less Omega-3 fatty acids in our diet, “farmed” fish also get less Omega-3 fatty acids in their diet (remember, it moves up the food chain). And that means that we don’t get the aforementioned benefits while eating them. Farmed salmon not only has significantly less Omega-3s, but can also contain antibiotics and other wastes found in the waters where they are farmed, since they do not get the advantage of swimming in the open ocean. The same goes for shrimp, tuna, or any other seafood that is kept in pens and fed “fish meal” instead of its normal diet. In some cases, you may as well be eating pork.

When I go out for sushi, I always ask if the salmon is farmed or “wild.” I eat the wild stuff, but forgo the farmed variety (and this even goes for fish at the market). Some fish is now impossible to find in the wild variety, such as hamachi (yellowtail). For this, I make an exception, which I feel is understandable given the alternative of never eating hamachi. But farm raised shrimp never finds its way onto my plate. It tastes different and has an entirely different texture. More and more tuna also now starts its life in the wild but is then caught and raised into blandness. I’m note telling everyone to stop eating farmed varieties of seafood, but personally I notice a huge difference and prefer to have the kind that benefits my heart and mind as well as simply being nutritious.

Sushi is great no matter the reason you eat it. But when you have the opportunity to eat something that tastes great, has a rich history, and also can be considered a health food, to me that says “this is the perfect food.” Eat your sushi from now on and think to yourself that you are not just enjoying yourself; you are also doing a real service for your heart, brain, and well-being.

Meshi Agare!
Warren
The sushi guy.

Everything is not always as it seems. For reasons unknown, restaurants will sometimes sell something under a different name, confusing the customer (at best) and hurting them (at worst). Often, they get away with it, but sometimes… Well… you read the news.

I bring this up because there is an item served at sushi-ya called “white tuna” (shiro maguro), or “super white tuna,” that is sometimes actual white albacore tuna (usually the white tuna), but also sometimes another fish, called ‘Escolar’ (which is usually the super white tuna). Legal requirements aside, it’s bad enough to sell a product that folks think is something else, but particularly with escolar, as some folks just don’t handle that particular fish quite well. As evidenced by an Austrailian Government health editorial, there are oils in that fish that can cause significant gastro-intestinal distress in some individuals. Not fun if you are planning a night out.

Sushi is confusing enough for newcomers, and even those who are very familiar with the dish are sometimes not aware of practices such as this. And this is not to say that all white tuna is Escolar and every restaurant scams its clientèle, but you never know. But if you happen to get it, you’ll know soon enough.

Warren
The Sushi Guy

Yesterday’s MSNBC Article on the dangers of sushi kind of bothered me. I’m used to the media sensationalizing just about everything, but it seems to me that their main goal, in the absence of enough news, is just to scare people. I’m not going to argue that there is no risk to eating predatory animals and fish, there is (all toxins work their way up the food chain on land or in the sea), but the risk of mercury in tuna, swordfish, shark, and others has been known for a while. And unless you are eating a lot of these foods every day, I honestly don’t believe that you are risking your life (as it would seem they believe) every time you go out for sushi.

What the article blatantly fails to mention (and obviously so because this seems to have been written to take advantage of the growing prevalence of sushi restaurants in the west) is that these already known risks are also valid in tinned tuna, and any other predatory fish you may eat cooked in a regular restaurant or home. You also might want to think about the pesticides in the veggies you eat every day as well (the ones that get into your produce, not just on the skin). Or BSE in your beef. Or avian flu in your poultry. I could really go on for a long time.

My point is not that everything is great and don’t worry, be happy. It is that any educated consumer should be aware that just about everything you do carries risks (even crossing the street) and that any sensible person should simply just be smart about their diet and not fall prey to the fear mongering that the media seems to have adopted instead of reporting actual news. Remember, for them it’s all about getting the readers attention to sell more papers and ad space, not about how to enjoy something responsibly.

Warren
The Sushi Guy.

As usual, I did take-out sushi on Monday evening (it’s a once a week thing in my house) and this time my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I ordered way too much sushi and ended up with a pile left after we were torpid with food. This is not a completely uncommon occurrence, and usually when I have some left over I pop it in the ‘fridge for a bit and eat it later. But I never will eat it the next day, only within a few hours.

It’s a psychological thing, I’m sure the fish is still fine the next day, and the avocado tastes the same even though it has turned a nasty brown, but I just can’t get myself to do it. So my question to you, faithful readers, is do you do leftover sushi? Please feel free to comment and let me know.

Warren
The Sushi guy.

For lunch today I had some basic salmon sushi and maki from Whole Foods. I used to be practically offended by supermarket sushi, but knowing the high quality that Whole Foods prides itself on, I’m willing to accept that theirs is fine to eat (BTW, I’m not affiliated with Whole Foods nor do I own their stock or anything, it’s just a great store). But… I have to say that regular supermarket sushi has always turned me off. When you are eating raw seafood, you have to be careful, and I’ve never thought that your average supermarket placed undue emphasis on being sanitary above and beyond the laws they must obey (tell me if I’m wrong, that’s just my opinion).

I’ve seen some nasty sushi at these places, though. Brown, crusty, you name it. And if you’ve ever been sick from bad seafood (I have) you will never want to take that kind of chance again. Sushi is a wonderful food. I obviously wouldn’t have this blog if I didn’t think so. But in a sense, making it a supermarket item commoditizes it and dumbs sushi down.

Supermarket sushi is utilitarian. It’s evidence. It’s a fix when you can’t go to a Japanese restaurant to get some of the good stuff. But I went to Whole Foods today and got some. I’m a victim. But a willing one. If you find the right place, and you trust it, supermarket sushi is a nice way to satisfy yourself until you can hit the bar and pick and choose the best. But in a way, it’s kind of like playing a game by yourself. It’s a reminder of what it can really be. But nothing can replace omakase at a great restaurant, or even a plain old unagi maki at your place around the corner.

Warren
The Sushi Guy.