Wookie
Proud to be a Chaos Muppet
Staff member
ScubaBoard Business Sponsor
ScubaBoard Supporter
Scuba Instructor
Agency to issue seafood warning
By Mark Collette
The Galveston Daily News
Published December 18, 2007
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will issue a letter to seafood processors instructing them to update their safety plans and to avoid buying certain fish caught in the northern Gulf of Mexico after outbreaks of a type of poisoning that was once rare here.
The advisory applies to about 13 species of fish caught within a 50-mile radius of the coral reefs in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. It follows months of research by the FDA after The Daily News in April reported the first recent case of ciguatera fish poisoning from a grouper caught 100 miles off the coast of Galveston.
Only a few such cases had been reported in the past 25 years, researchers said, but subsequent testing of fish has revealed that ciguatera poisoning is now a reasonably likely hazard for some species caught in the northern Gulf, the FDA said in the letter.
The FDA did not respond Monday to questions about the letter, signed by David Acheson, acting director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. But researchers familiar with it said the agency planned to make it public this week.
Tracy Villareal, a toxic algae expert at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, said the grouper poisoning case reported in April really kind of started the whole thing ... It was a smoking gun. We had ciguatera, we had the fish, we had toxin.
Ciguatera toxin causes initial symptoms similar to food poisoning, but the toxin invades cells and works its way into the human nervous system, producing a range of problems.
Symptoms range from pain and insurmountable fatigue to more intangible problems, such as anxiety. A telltale sign is a reversal of hot and cold sensations. Illness can last weeks, months, or, in severe cases, years. It is rarely fatal.
Cases of ciguatera can be difficult to confirm because people dont often save samples of the fish they ate. But when Galveston resident Greg Scofelia and his wife were sickened in April, they had several filets of the grouper left in their freezer.
Villareal said the new advisory has enormous implications because it requires seafood processors to change their written food safety plans. The FDA requires processors to implement such plans to control hazards.
Until now, if a person got sick and sued a seafood processor for selling a toxic fish caught in the northern Gulf, they can always point to the (FDA) guidelines and say, Well, there was no advisory, Villareal said.
The advisory will affect consumers nationwide, he said.
Its just such an exportable, high-value commodity that these things get flash frozen, or however theyre preserved, and then shipped all over the country.
Scofelia and his wife were sick for more than two months. Their illnesses were followed by two cases in Alabama resulting from fish caught in the northwestern Gulf. The government then tested more fish.
G.P. Schmahl manages Flower Garden Banks for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which supported the testing project.
I think there was like four out of 30 of those fish that came back over the testable limit of ciguatera toxin, Schmahl said. Based on that information, the FDA went forward with this action.
He said the advisory implies that it will remain in effect indefinitely, and the government intends to continue sampling fish over time to see if the toxin persists.
We want to get the word out and at the same time dont want to be too panicked about it, or too blasé about it, Schmahl said. But the advisory is pretty firmly worded.
Although its the most common form of seafood poisoning, ciguatera is so rare in most places that physicians often have never heard of it or know little about it, experts say. Its better known in Florida and the Caribbean, where it has long been a problem. The state of Florida requires physicians to report cases, although its still unclear how many people are sickened each year. Experts estimate between 50,000 and 500,000 cases yearly.
There is no antidote, and no amount of boiling, grilling, frying, baking or microwaving will remove the toxin from a fish.
It doesnt change the taste or texture of meat, and there is no reliable, commercially available test. The only surefire way to detect it, aside from complex, expensive tests in a government laboratory, is to see whether it makes a person sick.
Some researchers, such as Villareal, are now suggesting that a confluence of events, including the proliferation of oil platforms and warmer ocean temperatures, could make the western Gulf of Mexico a perfect place for ciguatera to expand and sicken more people.
Ciguatoxin is produced by the single-celled organism Gambierdiscus toxicus.
G. toxicus grows on algae connected to hard surfaces in warm ocean waters, ideally at about 82 degrees, Villareal said. Fish and other plant-eaters consume it. The toxin then works its way up the food chain into bigger fish such as snapper, barracuda, amberjack, mackerel and the grouper Scofelia caught.
Villareal and a team of researchers examined six petrochemical platforms off Port Aransas in 2003. All six had G. toxicus.
Oil production platforms didnt exist in the Gulf before 1942, but now there are about 4,000, forming what could be the largest artificial reef complex in the world.
When factoring this together with warmer water temperatures and expanding migration patterns of fish such as barracuda documented to have traveled from South Florida to South Texas ciguatera is unlikely to diminish and could increase, Villareal wrote.
Scofelias dubious catch remains in his freezer in Galveston, inside bags marked with a big, black marker: Do not eat.
He said he plans to destroy it if researchers tell him they dont need more samples.
Scofelia, whose hands still burn sometimes when he places them under cold water, praised the government for its research and subsequent warnings.
It needs to be that way, he said. The almighty dollar isnt worth getting somebody sick or possibly killing them.
+++
Species Of Fish To Avoid
The FDA recommends that primary seafood processors avoid purchasing these species:
Caught within 10 miles of Flower Garden Banks: marbled grouper, hogfish, blackfin snapper, dog snapper, gag grouper, scamp grouper, yellowfin grouper.
Caught within 50 miles of Flower Garden Banks: yellow jack, horse-eye jack, black jack, king mackerel, amberjack, barracuda.
By Mark Collette
The Galveston Daily News
Published December 18, 2007
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration will issue a letter to seafood processors instructing them to update their safety plans and to avoid buying certain fish caught in the northern Gulf of Mexico after outbreaks of a type of poisoning that was once rare here.
The advisory applies to about 13 species of fish caught within a 50-mile radius of the coral reefs in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. It follows months of research by the FDA after The Daily News in April reported the first recent case of ciguatera fish poisoning from a grouper caught 100 miles off the coast of Galveston.
Only a few such cases had been reported in the past 25 years, researchers said, but subsequent testing of fish has revealed that ciguatera poisoning is now a reasonably likely hazard for some species caught in the northern Gulf, the FDA said in the letter.
The FDA did not respond Monday to questions about the letter, signed by David Acheson, acting director of the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. But researchers familiar with it said the agency planned to make it public this week.
Tracy Villareal, a toxic algae expert at the University of Texas Marine Science Institute in Port Aransas, said the grouper poisoning case reported in April really kind of started the whole thing ... It was a smoking gun. We had ciguatera, we had the fish, we had toxin.
Ciguatera toxin causes initial symptoms similar to food poisoning, but the toxin invades cells and works its way into the human nervous system, producing a range of problems.
Symptoms range from pain and insurmountable fatigue to more intangible problems, such as anxiety. A telltale sign is a reversal of hot and cold sensations. Illness can last weeks, months, or, in severe cases, years. It is rarely fatal.
Cases of ciguatera can be difficult to confirm because people dont often save samples of the fish they ate. But when Galveston resident Greg Scofelia and his wife were sickened in April, they had several filets of the grouper left in their freezer.
Villareal said the new advisory has enormous implications because it requires seafood processors to change their written food safety plans. The FDA requires processors to implement such plans to control hazards.
Until now, if a person got sick and sued a seafood processor for selling a toxic fish caught in the northern Gulf, they can always point to the (FDA) guidelines and say, Well, there was no advisory, Villareal said.
The advisory will affect consumers nationwide, he said.
Its just such an exportable, high-value commodity that these things get flash frozen, or however theyre preserved, and then shipped all over the country.
Scofelia and his wife were sick for more than two months. Their illnesses were followed by two cases in Alabama resulting from fish caught in the northwestern Gulf. The government then tested more fish.
G.P. Schmahl manages Flower Garden Banks for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which supported the testing project.
I think there was like four out of 30 of those fish that came back over the testable limit of ciguatera toxin, Schmahl said. Based on that information, the FDA went forward with this action.
He said the advisory implies that it will remain in effect indefinitely, and the government intends to continue sampling fish over time to see if the toxin persists.
We want to get the word out and at the same time dont want to be too panicked about it, or too blasé about it, Schmahl said. But the advisory is pretty firmly worded.
Although its the most common form of seafood poisoning, ciguatera is so rare in most places that physicians often have never heard of it or know little about it, experts say. Its better known in Florida and the Caribbean, where it has long been a problem. The state of Florida requires physicians to report cases, although its still unclear how many people are sickened each year. Experts estimate between 50,000 and 500,000 cases yearly.
There is no antidote, and no amount of boiling, grilling, frying, baking or microwaving will remove the toxin from a fish.
It doesnt change the taste or texture of meat, and there is no reliable, commercially available test. The only surefire way to detect it, aside from complex, expensive tests in a government laboratory, is to see whether it makes a person sick.
Some researchers, such as Villareal, are now suggesting that a confluence of events, including the proliferation of oil platforms and warmer ocean temperatures, could make the western Gulf of Mexico a perfect place for ciguatera to expand and sicken more people.
Ciguatoxin is produced by the single-celled organism Gambierdiscus toxicus.
G. toxicus grows on algae connected to hard surfaces in warm ocean waters, ideally at about 82 degrees, Villareal said. Fish and other plant-eaters consume it. The toxin then works its way up the food chain into bigger fish such as snapper, barracuda, amberjack, mackerel and the grouper Scofelia caught.
Villareal and a team of researchers examined six petrochemical platforms off Port Aransas in 2003. All six had G. toxicus.
Oil production platforms didnt exist in the Gulf before 1942, but now there are about 4,000, forming what could be the largest artificial reef complex in the world.
When factoring this together with warmer water temperatures and expanding migration patterns of fish such as barracuda documented to have traveled from South Florida to South Texas ciguatera is unlikely to diminish and could increase, Villareal wrote.
Scofelias dubious catch remains in his freezer in Galveston, inside bags marked with a big, black marker: Do not eat.
He said he plans to destroy it if researchers tell him they dont need more samples.
Scofelia, whose hands still burn sometimes when he places them under cold water, praised the government for its research and subsequent warnings.
It needs to be that way, he said. The almighty dollar isnt worth getting somebody sick or possibly killing them.
+++
Species Of Fish To Avoid
The FDA recommends that primary seafood processors avoid purchasing these species:
Caught within 10 miles of Flower Garden Banks: marbled grouper, hogfish, blackfin snapper, dog snapper, gag grouper, scamp grouper, yellowfin grouper.
Caught within 50 miles of Flower Garden Banks: yellow jack, horse-eye jack, black jack, king mackerel, amberjack, barracuda.
