The billion-dollar tuna industry’s U.S. Tuna Foundation trade group will roll out a new PR campaign next year downplaying FDA and EPA warnings about mercury in tuna. In an effort to boost consumption, The Foundation will stress the fact that tuna has Omega-3 fatty acids which are essential for child development.
Like many such organizations set up by PR agencies, The Foundation is a foundation in name only. It formulates the industry’s public response for its main harvesters and marketers like Starkist, Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea.
The Washington Post reports that the FDA U.S. Food and Drug Administration plans to warn children and women of childbearing age about elevated levels of harmful mercury in seafood, and specifically tuna.
Aker Partners, the Tuna Foundation’s outside PR counsel, advises the group on the mercury issue, according to the O’Dwyer PR Website. “Mercury affects all seafood,” said Colburn Aker, managing partner of the Washington, D.C.-based firm. “The tuna industry has been responsible with the issue and will continue to be.”
Fleishman-Hillard works on behalf of Bumble Bee and referred calls on the issue to the Foundation. Citigate Sard Verbinnen handles media relations for Starkist’s parent, DelMonte Corp.
Aker said the industry will likely roll out an education campaign and efforts to boost consumption early next year. Tuna is second behind shrimp in top seafood sales in the U.S. Over two billion cans of tuna were sold last year.
As a big tuna consumer, i think a listing of heavy metals and mercury should be required on all products as well as an indication of safe levels.
Let us hope the tuna industry deals responsibly with this issue instead of just trying to boost consumption across the board.
As wn said, information is the answer.
Tuna is being singled out because it is one of the most heavily consumed fish.
Others are involved.
A Detroit Free Press article today notes fish in inland lakes “have enough mercury that they should rarely if ever be eaten by children and women of child-bearing age. The same is true for some big ocean fish, especially swordfish, shark, king mackerel and tilefish….”
It says “The obvious answer is information, particularly signs at grocery stores and fishing sites, along with discreet footnotes on restaurant menus. Otherwise some people, in ignorance, will eat too much fish while others shun every kind. Since fish can be a heart-healthy source of protein, that’s a big mistake, too.”
http://www.freep.com/voices/editorials/emerc17_20031217.htm
what’s lubricious?
The tuna and seafood industry should be focused on long-term issues such as eliminating the toxic elements from our oceans while being honest about the short-term known potential problems and obvious benefits of consuming their products.A recommended starting effort would be a major lobbying effort to US and world politicians to reduce toxic dumping and air polution, as well as starting a major consumer write-in/email effort to the same politicians. This is such an important issue worldwide, I could expect hundreds of millions of write-ins forcing our elected officials to take action.
As a former big tuna consumer, I feel that one reason for the lack of good information being given to consumers may be the influence of the seafood industry on the FDA. The FDA has new test results apparently showing that canned white Albacore tuna has three times the mercury of light tuna, yet this information has not been conveyed to the media so that, in turn, it can be conveyed to the public. And the mercury issue is complex. There are different types of mercury in different fishing waters of the world. Additionally, the EPA is apparently going to relax restrictions on mercury pollution. People need to speak out more about their concerns on the quality of the seafood we eat and the labeling of same.
oy! what am I going to eat now. I already don’t eat meat. I can’t eat chickens because a Perdue Oven Stuffer Roaster once tried to kill me. Vegetables are sprayed with who knows what from the who knows where they come from.
Information is surely the key. But in the end, it seems crazy that we can’t come up with food that is safe to eat.
Lubricious is oily, greasy, sleazy. I used that word in the headline because the Tuna Foundation is concentrating on tuna’s Omega-3 OIL content. I was making a joke.
Gratulations man, radio sunshine discussed about your blog on 2 pm. Header was your topic B.L. Ochman’s blog: Tuna Foundation’s Lubricious Approach to Mercury Warnings. Good work. so long