A note concerning pre-packaged frozen fish

[EasternGirl]

I thought that tuna was the fish to worry about with mercury...I didn't know it was such a worry with salmon...good to know though considering I eat a lot of it in my sushi and have been buying a lot of it for my snakes. I guess I should cut back on it myself, and I will start buying more tilapia for the snakes instead of salmon.

[ConcinusMan]

Any carnivorous fish on the planet builds up mercury in it's tissues. It's caused by decades of burning fossil fuels, mainly coal. The higher up the food chain they are, the worse it gets. It's also worse in some areas than others.

Western salmon has PCB's to worry about too. CA salmon are virtually inedible. Northwest salmon are a little better, and Alaskan is the cleanest. Farmed salmon of any kind is cleaner than wild, but still contains mercury and / or PCB's.

mercury content in micrograms: (sampling done from 1990 to 2010) Median values. (values can be higher or lower depending mainly on the source location)

Farmed tilapia 0.004

Freshwater trout 0.025

Canned light tuna 0.078

Tuna steak or canned albacore 0.360

Fresh/Frozen salmon (species / region not specified) 0.190

It's really best avoid eating any fish that has anything but zeros in the first two places after the decimal.

Keep in mind that your body eliminates mercury slowly. A little wont hurt you. We all have some in our bodies. it's when intake exceeds elimination rate that you run the risk of building it up to toxic levels.




Sushi, no thanks. I'll pass on ingesting nematodes and tape worms / eggs.

[Magnarock the 2nd]

I have some pre-packaged Tilapia that contains: Carbon Monoxide (to preserve natural color). Would it be safe to feed?

[infernalis]

Carbon monoxide??

That's what suicidal people suck out of car tailpipes to end it all.

[Stefan-A]

Carbon monoxide??

That's what suicidal people suck out of car tailpipes to end it all.

Because inhaling it hinders the blood's ability to transport oxygen. It's a gas and eating something that has come in contact with it is perfectly harmless.

[BUSHSNAKE]

Carbon monoxide??

That's what suicidal people suck out of car tailpipes to end it all.

Lmao!

[EasternGirl]

Thanks for the info, Wayne.

[infernalis]

Thanks for the info, Wayne.

Ignore me.. Stefan is right.

Carbon monoxide (CO) has been used for improving the color of muscle foods. In the current study, we compared the postmortem treatment of tilapia fillets with 100% CO and euthanasia of live tilapia with CO for their ability to stabilize the color of white and red muscle of tilapia fillets. Both postmortem CO treatment and CO euthanasia were effective in increasing the redness (a* value) and lightness (L* value) of tilapia white and red muscle. Fillets obtained from CO-euthanized tilapia showed significantly higher a* and L* values during 1 mo of frozen storage at -20 degrees C and subsequent thawing and storage at 4 degrees C for 18 d. The amount of CO present in the red and white muscles decreased during the 18 d of storage at 4 degrees C. There was no significant difference in the pH, drip, or thaw loss of CO-treated tilapia fillets compared to the untreated fillets.

The only difference between Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide is an oxygen atom.

We feed mice euthanized with Carbon Dioxide to our snakes every day.

[EasternGirl]

Well, I meant thank you for all the info on the mercury content in fish...it was very helpful. I am going to start buying fresh tilapia and trout for my snakes from now on. It was also useful info for me personally...I always wonder about the mercury levels in fish that I eat and give to my family...now I know the levels in the different kinds of fish...so it was very helpful.

[ConcinusMan]

Because inhaling it hinders the blood's ability to transport oxygen. It's a gas and eating something that has come in contact with it is perfectly harmless.

What Stefan said. I'm sure that it's just carbon monoxide gas in the package placed there to displace oxygen. That shouldn't be a problem at all.

We feed mice euthanized with Carbon Dioxide to our snakes every day.

So, essentially they've been suffocated to death. Seems to me like the Co2 method would also ensure that the blood and tissues of the rodents will be very low in oxygen. Good for keeping them fresh too I suppose.

Well, I meant thank you for all the info on the mercury content in fish...it was very helpful. I am going to start buying fresh tilapia and trout for my snakes from now on. It was also useful info for me personally...I always wonder about the mercury levels in fish that I eat and give to my family...now I know the levels in the different kinds of fish...so it was very helpful.

There are several sources on the internet for you to look up mercury content. Results will vary, but the general consensus is that farmed tilapia is probably the cleanest fish you can find at any market. It helps that the fish is an herbivore so it doesn't prey on other creatures containing mercury. Keep in mind that trout mercury content can be quite high too. Depends on where the fish come from, and to a lesser degree, the species. Chances are, if you're catching it in some pond or lake anywhere near a heavily industrialized part of the country, it's going to be high in mercury. Better to use farmed steelhead or rainbow trout from the market.