Recently a chef asked me what were my concerns with fish, specifically tuna, coming off of the California Coast in regards to contamination due to radiation. My answer surprised him. None. That's right, as of right now I have not read or heard anything that would lead me to think on the contrary. Evidently this particular chef still had his doubts about how safe fish from our Pacific Coast was and whether or not the after-effects of the Fukushima disaster were causing contamination in fish being harvested in our waters.
I think its a good time to revisit the situation and this somewhat recent ARTICLE should help shed some light and information on the subject. It is important to remember that initial reports of harmfully high amounts of radiation in fish were taken from sample animals swimming in waters immediately surrounding the defunct plant. To this day I am not sure that these waters have been deemed safe enough to harvest from, but I do know that migratory and non-migratory species on our own coast and places located as close as South Korea are providing seafood that has been deemed perfectly safe to eat. It is also important to note that immediately after the incident the U.S. government boosted the security and rigorous testing on imported (especially Japanese) seafood and to my knowledge not one case of radiation poisoning from tainted seafood has occurred in the U.S. since. As far as U.S. Pacific coast seafood is concerned, I have no concerns but one. I am not sure we are eating enough, especially when it comes to wild salmon, sable, halibut, and albacore, which are all in season.
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