Advocacy Group Critical of U.S. Seafood Safety : SEAFOOD CONTAMINATION: Consumer Advocacy Group Questions Safety of Some U. S. Fish

Undercooked or raw molluskan shellfish pose a significant public health risk because of elevated contamination rates and ineffective government overseeing of the industry, according to a report by a Washington-based consumer advocacy group.

The risk of food poisoning, in fact, is 100 times greater from eating raw or undercooked molluskan shellfish than that posed from cooked chicken or any other meat, reports Public Voice for Food and Health Policy. The illness rate was compiled from federal health statistics, which also indicate that as many as 61,000 people may become sick annually from eating contaminated mollusks such as clams, oysters and mussels.

Public Voice released its report, “Contaminated Catch: Holes in the Shellfish Safety Net,” this week at the Newspaper Food Editors and Writers Assn. annual meeting here at the Stouffer Madison Hotel.

“Eating raw shellfish is like playing Russian roulette,” said Ellen Haas, Public Voice’s executive director. “There is little protection from the government nor much protection to be found in the food’s preparation because they are usually eaten raw including the entire intestinal system.”

A seafood industry representative, however, said that commercial shellfish are safe to eat. “We recognize there are problems, but most shellfish are not eaten raw--maybe only 20%,” said Clare Vanderbeek of the National Fisheries Institute, a trade group in Washington.

Shellfish pose a unique food safety problem because, as stationary species, they are susceptible to a wide variety of contaminants in the water supply, both microbiological and industrial.

“Molluskan shellfish--oysters, clams and mussels--naturally accumulate pathogenic bacteria and viruses as well as chemical contaminants present in polluted water. In addition, they are commonly eaten raw, so the partial protection of cooking is lost and, importantly, neither heat nor cold destroys some illness-causing agents (that may be present).”

Both federal and state governments were faulted by Public Voice for not doing more to ensure the safety and wholesomeness of shellfish.

An interagency group singled out for particular criticism was the Interstate Shellfish Commission. The commission’s executive board, for instance, is dominated by state officials and industry representatives, who have six seats each. The federal government has three seats on the board, only one of which is for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has jurisdiction over shellfish safety.

“This points up the severe limitations of a program in which the federal government’s regulatory arm can be outvoted by the industry and states with a major economic interest in the policies. Policies are being set to meet the public relations needs of the industry, rather than the well-established right of the public to know the effectiveness of a regulatory program,” the report states.

Even so, the commission is considered important in the industry because it proposes guidelines for shellfish harvesting and processing. It also oversees the voluntary inspection program that is in place to monitor shellfish for safety concerns.

Furthermore, a separate federal study is under way that is exploring ways to implement a mandatory seafood inspection program that would encompass shellfish. This project, already 36 months old, will not be completed until December, 1990. In the meantime, Haas says the federal government’s regulation of the shellfish industry has been “toothless.”

“The current program has no teeth in that it has no enforcement power. The federal government (through FDA) can form policies but not mandate them. When the states disregard the policies there is nothing the federal government can do about it,” she said.

20% From Polluted Waters

One example cited by the Public Voice report is that as much as 20% of the total Louisiana oyster harvest may come from illegal, or polluted, waters. The state is the nation’s leading oyster producer and harvested about 189 million pounds of shellfish in 1987.

But Louisiana is not alone in disregarding federal shellfish sanitation guidelines, according to Public Voice. States classified by the FDA as operating out of compliance with federal standards account for 54% of the shellfish that was harvested in this country in 1987. Some of these “nonconforming” states, in addition to Louisiana, include California, Maine, New York and Texas.

Jack Lilja, a State of Washington health official who is familiar with the commission’s work, said that all states--except Connecticut--are in compliance with the guidelines. Tim Smith, executive director of the Pacific Coast Oyster Growers Assn., who attended the presentation of the Public Voice report, said that Pacific Coast oyster farms do not have the same contamination problems as in the Atlantic Ocean or Gulf Coast regions.

Fully-Farmed Shellfish

In fact, the aquaculture ventures that grow much of this state’s shellfish monitor constantly for high bacterial and pollution levels, he said. “We have different methods out here. Our shellfish are fully-farmed and we defend our water quality and test it on a daily basis,” said Smith.

Data released by Public Voice indicated that the State of Washington is in compliance with federal shellfish sanitation guidelines. But according to the FDA data sighted in the report, the state represents only 3% of the total U.S. harvest. However, industry analysts estimate that about 33% of the nation’s oyster are produced in Washington.

Smith and others emphasized that people with compromised immune systems should not eat any foods raw, including shellfish. Individuals in this group would include infants, the elderly, pregnant women, cancer patients and those suffering from AIDS. He said his organization is working to make sure health officials, physicians and those at risk are informed of the danger.

FDA Awareness Cited

“Two things are really terrible about all this,” Haas said. “The FDA has known about these problems for 15 years and has done nothing about it. They proposed some changes in 1975 but because industry and the state governments complained, the regulations were withdrawn 10 years later.”

In essence, the FDA has abdicated its responsibility in the matter, according to the Public Voice report.

“(The agency) has simply advised consumers not to eat raw molluskan shellfish, even though this is how they are commonly eaten,” the report stated.

The Public Voice report makes several recommendations. The group urges Congress to pass the Consumer Seafood Safety Act of 1989, filed recently by Rep. Dan Glickman, (D-Kansas). The bill would, among other things, establish a mandatory seafood inspection program to replace such voluntary efforts as the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Commission and the Department of Commerce’s seafood grading program.

Limits for Contaminants

Other recommendations include:

--A requirement that the FDA set federal limits for chemical and microbiological contaminants in all species of fish and shellfish consumed in the United States.

--Federal certification of fishing vessels, processing plants and distributors.

--Intensified federal seafood inspection activity including unrestricted spot checks of boats, plants and wholesale operations.

--Increased inspection of imported seafood products, which represent a large portion of the fish consumed in this country.

--Establishment of criminal and civil penalties for violations of federal seafood safety regulations.