Featured Image Credit: Getty stock photos
Topics: Health, Food And Drink
Jess Battison
Researchers have expressed concerns over tinned tuna after a new study said the popular product could be a huge public health risk.
Yep, while the fishy stuff might be a go-to for Brits for a quick wfh lunch (we all know its sacrilege to crack open a tin in the office) or to whip up a speedy dinner after a long day, it could do more harm than good.
Sure, the stuff is pretty budget friendly but a new study suggests the food might not be so friendly for our health.
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Researchers purchased almost 150 tins of tuna in Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Spain and found they were all ‘contaminated with mercury’.
According to government guidance, swallowing elemental mercury in large amounts can lead to nausea, vomiting and stomach pain. And swallowing inorganic mercury can also cause diarrhoea.
“Ingesting large amounts of inorganic mercury can cause stomach ulcers and can damage the kidneys, intestines and nervous system,” it adds.
While the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) found there wasn’t enough evidence to determine whether it can cause cancer in humans, it has been linked.
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The US Environmental Protection Agency said: "In very high doses, some forms of mercury have caused increases in several types of tumours in rats and mice."
Either way, the study has raised some red flags as Karine Jacquemart, CEO of consumer rights organisation Foodwatch France - one of the two groups behind it - said: "What we end up with on our dinner plates is a colossal risk to public health that's not considered seriously.
"We won't give up until we have a more protective European standard."
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The Bloom group, which campaigns for protection of the oceans, also added: "That is the reason why tuna, among the most contaminated species, is given maximum tolerance in mercury three times higher than less contaminated species.
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"Mercury is not less toxic if it's ingested through tuna, only the concentration of mercury counts. We demand that the public authorities strengthen regulation and, without delay, that distributors do not sell products over the most protective level."
Under current UK and EU law, the limit for mercury in tuna products is 1mg/kg and for other fish 0.3mg/kg.
It was noted that in more than half of the tins tested, the mercury level was higher than the 0.3mg/kg maximum limit for mercury in other fish.
Bloom claims that the accepted mercury level of one milligram per kilo is there to make sure that '95 percent' of tuna caught is sold.
Bloom and Foodwatch have urged governments to remove ‘all products’ with tuna from school kitchens, nurseries, maternity wards, hospitals and care homes.