BPA In Seafood - Is It Safe?
BY STEVE HENTGES | FEBRUARY 20TH 2017 03:40 PM

It’s not hard these days to find stories in the popular media about the presence ofvarious chemical contaminants in our environment. Included in this genre arestories about trace levels of chemicals in common consumer products, in the air webreathe, and in the water we drink. Almost inevitably the stories suggest that evenminor exposures are harming our health.
Making it worse, the consumer media is famous for producing scare stories that areshort on scientific rigor. If you’re a scientist with a lot of spare time on your hands,
you can always conduct your own scientific assessment of the safety of a particularcontaminant. But that’s not an easy task and even few scientists will have the timeor detailed knowledge to do a thorough assessment.
Perhaps the most emotionally compelling stories involve trace levels ofcontaminants in the food we eat. If we’re concerned about safety, we may be able
to avoid certain consumer products, but we can’t avoid food. In particular it’sdifficult, and not advisable, to avoid foods that provide important nutritional
benefits.
As consumers, that leaves us in a difficult position that may feel like we’re picking
our poison. Do we risk our health by eating foods that may contain trace levels ofa potentially harmful contaminant, or do we avoid the contaminant and risk ourhealth by missing out on essential nutrients?
A good example is the case of bisphenol A (BPA). It’s well known that we’reexposed to low levels of BPA and that most of the exposure comes from ourdiet. Government bodies around the world have concluded that BPA is safe at
typical exposure levels. But beyond those general aspects, it’s not easy to know
how much BPA is in specific foods, and to confirm whether those levels are safe.
A new and easy to use on-line tool known as FishChoice now allows consumers toeasily calculate intake of BPA, and more than 20 other common contaminants, fromconsumption of fresh and canned seafood based on individual consumer
consumption patterns. In accordance with recommendations of international

1/4

organizations, calculated intakes are compared with health-based guidance values
to determine if the intake is healthy.
For BPA, the tool reveals that even high consumption of seafood is unlikely to resultin an unhealthy intake of BPA. Based on internationally accepted guidelines, we
can confidently enjoy seafood and receive its nutritional benefits without concern
about BPA.
Why Eat Seafood?
Along with simply liking seafood, it’s well recognized that fish and shellfish are an
important part of a healthy diet. Not only does seafood provide protein, but it also
provides nutrients including vitamins, minerals, and omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty
acids.
The latter is particularly important since a reduced risk of cardiovascular diseasehas been linked to consumption of omega-3 fatty acids. Some fish are particularly
enriched in these fatty acids and international health agencies recommend 1-2 fishservings per week, at least partly for that reason.
Although consumption of seafood has clear health benefits, seafood can also be asource of various environmental contaminants, which could introduce health risks if
consumption is too high. Balancing health benefits with potential risks isimportant, but may not be so easy for consumers to evaluate the trade-offs andmake rational decisions.
How Does FishChoice Help Consumers?
A European Union (EU) funded project known as ECsafeSEAFOOD is aimed atassessing food safety issues related to various contaminants in seafood and theirimpact on human health. In a key output from this project, contaminant data fromanalysis of seafood samples from throughout the EU were integrated with nutrient
information in a new on-line tool named FishChoice.
Along with the on-line tool, the researchers who created the tool have recently
published a guide to the tool in the peer-reviewed scientific literature. The tool isfreely available for use by consumers, and additional information can be accessed
upon request in the Pro version of the tool.

2/4

Essentially what the tool does is calculate intake of various common contaminantsfrom consumption of seafood, compare the intake with health-based guidancevalues from authoritative sources, and provide a simple graphical answer toindicate if the intake is safe. Although the answer may be simple, quite a bit ofwork has gone on behind the scenes to ensure that the answer is scientificallydefensible – work that would be difficult, if not impossible, for consumers to do on
their own.
Along with information on contaminants, FishChoice also provides information on
intake of key nutrients and comparison of those intakes with recommended
levels. For both contaminants and nutrients, intakes are individually customized
for specific consumption patterns (i.e., >20 types of fresh and canned seafood, up
to 7 servings of 3 portion sizes, 8 demographic profiles), which allows consumers tomake rational decisions on whether and how to change their consumption patterns.
What Does FishChoice Tell Us About BPA in Seafood?
The utility of FishChoice is demonstrated with BPA as an example of a contaminantthat might be a concern to consumers. For example, selecting a demographic
category (children 3-9 years), a seafood (canned tuna), portion size (80 grams),
and number of weekly servings (7) results in a graphic showing a “green fish,”which indicates that the low level of BPA in the seafood is healthy, whereas a redfish would indicate that changes in consumption patterns are needed.

3/4

The actual BPA intake numbers (available in the Pro version) indicate the BPA
exposure in this example is more than 70 times below the maximum recommended
exposure, which is based on the most stringent safe exposure limit recently set by
the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Given the large margin of safety, it
would be virtually impossible to take in an unhealthy amount of BPA from eating
seafood.
The results for BPA are consistent with EFSA’s recent conclusion on the safety ofBPA (“BPA poses no health risk to consumers of any age group (including unborn
children, infants and adolescents) at current exposure levels.”) Similarly, the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration, based on its assessment, answers the question “IsBPA safe?” with the straightforward answer “Yes.” With FishChoice, we can seethat these overall conclusions are clearly applicable to seafood.

4/4