Health Concerns

Food Poisoning: Catch of the Day

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are about 75 million cases of foodborne illness every year, including hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations and thousands of deaths. And seafood is the number one cause of food poisoning in the United States.⁵⁸ Symptoms of seafood poisoning include mild to extreme discomfort, nervous system damage, and even death.⁵⁹


	“[T]he seafood industry has a very poor record of compliance and there is no government testing to monitor pathogens often associated with seafood poisoning. FDA’s seafood-safety system is an industry honor system unworthy of public support.” —Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest⁶²

Seafood poisoning is caused by eating foods contaminated with viruses or bacteria including salmonella, listeria, and E. coli. When Consumer Reports looked at bacteria levels in fresh fish bought at supermarkets around the country, they found that between 3 and 8 percent of the samples tested had “unacceptable” levels of E. coli, a bacterium that comes from human or animal feces, that pollutes some waterways.⁶⁰


	“Seafood is a major cause of food poisoning, sickening more than 100,000 and causing dozens of preventable deaths each year.”⁶³ —Caroline Smith DeWaal, Center for Science in the Public Interest food safety director

Many people may have had food poisoning without even knowing it, mistakenly attributing it to a case of “stomach flu.” Like the flu, people infected with bacteria from tainted marine animals often suffer from vomiting, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. If left untreated, this food poisoning can lead to death.⁶¹ Children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with impaired immune systems are particularly vulnerable. Since fish flesh is a major cause of food poisoning, those who consume fish flesh risk unnecessary illness with every bite they take.

The academic journal Environmental Microbiology published an alarming report in July 2006 about the human-health threat caused by the massive amounts of antibiotics that are fed to fish on fish farms. These drugs are used to keep the animals alive in filthy, crowded conditions that would otherwise kill them. But scientists are very concerned that the overuse of these drugs will cause antibiotic-resistant bacteria to multiply in the fish and that people who eat the infected fish flesh will contract dangerous illnesses that cannot be cured by drugs. “If we don't curb the heavy use of prophylactic antibiotics in aquaculture, then we will ultimately see more and more antibiotic-resistant pathogens emerging, causing increased disease to fish, animals, and humans alike,” said Dr. Felipe Cabello, the author of the study.⁶⁴

Read about the FDA »

⁵⁸Cable News Network.
⁵⁹eMedicine.
⁶⁰Consumer Reports, “America’s Fish: Fair or Foul?” Feb. 2001.
⁶¹Center for Science in the Public Interest, news release, “Consumers Keep Getting Sick From Seafood,” 9 Oct. 2002.
⁶²Center for Science in the Public Interest, news release, “U.S. Seafood-Safety System ‘Unworthy of Public Support,’” 20 Sep. 2000.
⁶³Center for Science in the Public Interest, “Consumers Keep Getting Sick From Seafood,” 9 Oct. 2002.
⁶⁴Wai Lang Chu, "Study Warns Excess Fish-Farming Drug Use Promotes Resistance," DrugResearcher.com, 21 Jun. 2006.