High mercury content found in NYC tuna sushi, Seattle below average

NEW YORK — Recent laboratory tests found so much mercury in tuna sushi from 20 Manhattan stores and restaurants that at most of them, a regular diet of six pieces a week would exceed the levels considered acceptable by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Sushi from five of the 20 places had mercury levels so high that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) could take legal action to remove the fish from the market.

"No one should eat a meal of tuna with mercury levels like those found in the restaurant samples more than about once every three weeks," said Dr. Michael Gochfeld, professor of environmental and occupational medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in Piscataway, N.J.

Gochfeld analyzed the sushi with Dr. Joanna Burger, professor of life sciences at Rutgers University. Gochfeld is a former chairman of the New Jersey Mercury Task Force and treats patients with mercury poisoning.

Mercury of more than 1 part per million is the "action level" at which the FDA can take food off the market.

Although the samples were gathered in New York City, experts think similar results would be observed elsewhere. "Mercury levels in bluefin are likely to be very high, regardless of location," said Tim Fitzgerald, a marine scientist for Environmental Defense, an advocacy group that works to protect the environment and improve human health.

Most of the restaurants in the survey said the tuna sampled was bluefin.

In 2004, the FDA joined with the EPA to warn women who might become pregnant and children to limit consumption of certain varieties of canned tuna because the mercury it contained might damage the developing nervous system. Fresh tuna was not included in the advisory.

Most of the tuna sushi in the samples contained far more mercury than is typically found in canned tuna.

In the past several years, studies have suggested mercury may also cause health problems for adults, including higher risk of cardiovascular disease and neurological symptoms.

Six pieces of sushi from most of the restaurants and stores sampled would contain more than 49 micrograms of mercury. That is the amount the EPA deems acceptable for weekly consumption over several months by an adult of average weight, which the agency defines as 154 pounds. The weight of the fish sampled ranged from 0.18 ounces to 1.26 ounces.

The environmental group Oceana, in response to the New York survey, released its own mercury study of tuna from 23 U.S. cities, including Seattle and Portland.

In Seattle, Oceana tested a sample of yellowfin tuna, or ahi, from the Philippines, purchased at a Costco, and found 0.25 parts per million of mercury, below the FDA's national average for mercury in tuna, which is 0.38 parts per million. In Portland, the group found Philippine ahi at a Costco that tested at 0.52 parts per million, above the FDA average.

The group also tested a serving of maguro from a Seattle sushi restaurant and found it contained 0.69 parts per million of mercury.

The worst tuna in Oceana's study was in St. Petersburg, Fla., where a piece of U.S.-caught yellowfin tested at 1.8 parts per million of mercury.

Seattle Times staff contributed to this report.