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Are Smoked Oysters Healthy?

Apr 18, 2011 | By Rebecca Bragg
Are Smoked Oysters Healthy?
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Whether smoked, brined or fresh, oysters from clean waters are excellent sources of protein, iron and healthy dietary fats. During processing, cans are heated to neutralize any potential bacterial threats. However, oysters taken from polluted waters may contain chemical contaminants, unaffected by heat, that can be passed to humans. Most smoked oysters consumed in North America come from the Yellow Sea and are canned and processed in China and Korea.

International Oyster Industry

Korea and the United States are the world's largest oyster-producing countries -- yet China and the U.S. both export massive quantities of oysters to each other. In 2009, the U.S. exported 6.4 million pounds of oysters with a value of $19.6 million; China was the main market. The same year, the U.S. imported 20.5 million pounds of oysters valued at $47.7 million, mostly from Korea and China.

Pollution Concerns

In a June 2005 report prepared for the United Nations Environmental Program, the Global International Waters Assessment raised an alarm about pollutants flowing into the Yellow Sea from 300 previous oil spills, industrial waste, raw sewage, acid rain, agriculture and other sources. As of 1999, about 1.7 billion tons of industrial waste water, and 220 million tons of domestic sewage, made their way into those waters. As a result, "concentration of metals, pesticides and oil in marine organisms is gradually increasing, sometimes to levels exceeding those allowable for consumption" on both Korean and Chinese sides, carried far and wide by currents. The report predicted that this situation would worsen in coming years.

Oil Spills

Between April 20 and July 15, 2010, almost 5 million barrels of crude oil gushed into the Gulf of Mexico, contaminating everything it encountered, including Louisiana's oyster beds. On July 17, 2010, while authorities were struggling to contain that damage, what has been described as the worst oil spill in China's history turned the Yellow Sea black. China has never released a figure for the quantity of oil released, but the U.K. newspaper "The Guardian" reported that five days later, the spreading slick had covered 267 square miles. Nonetheless, on July 29, China issued a statement claiming that the spill had been "all cleaned up." Two years earlier, an accident on Korea's side had poured at least 10,000 tons of crude into the Yellow Sea.

Chemical Pollution

Much has been learned about the effects of petroleum on oysters from the Gulf oil spill. In February 2011, "Food Safety News" reported that Louisiana oysters were turning up with 150 to 200 times the level of cadmium that's considered safe for human consumption. Marine biologist Ed Cake said that oysters are "natural bioaccumulators" of cadmium, a toxic heavy metal similar to mercury that's classified as a carcinogen by the World Health Organization. In 2000, after Canadian health authorities discovered "problematic" levels of cadmium in farmed oysters in the comparatively pristine waters of the Pacific northwest, the government warned consumers to limit consumption.

Monitoring Seafood Safety

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authority for monitoring the safety of seafood imported from China, but says that the seafood industry and importers are responsible for making sure that products are "fully compliant" with U.S. food safety laws. In April 2008, Jean M. Halloran, director of food policy initiatives for Consumers Union, publisher of "Consumer Reports" magazine, told the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, "We have considerable evidence that seafood imports from China pose significant safety risks." The FDA inspects less than 1 percent of food imports and is "very limited in what it can do to ensure the safety of imports from China or anywhere else," Halloran said.

References

Article reviewed by Leon Teeboom Last updated on: Apr 18, 2011

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