Does fish often contain toxic flame retardants in our supermarkets?

How do toxic chemicals get into fish in the supermarket??

Researchers now found that fish in supermarkets may contain toxic chemicals. For example, these chemicals are associated with developmental problems in children. Affected fish came from farms that use feed containing a type of synthetic flame retardant.

• In 2004, the US and Europe banned some type of chemicals called PDBEs.
• PDBEs can enter the environment and food and cause hormonal imbalances in humans.
• Despite restrictions, a new study shows high levels of PDBE in salmon feed and also in the salmon itself, which was reported to have been bred in a PDBE-free environment.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found in their recent research that fish from farms may contain some of the dangerous chemicals they absorb from their feed.

PDBE found in fish in the supermarket

The physicians were able to prove that salmon in supermarkets can contain the poisonous chemical PDBE. Since 2004, the US and most European countries have been working to eliminate the chemical PDBE in all waters, farmed fish and wild fish. The chemical interferes with the hormones and developmental effects in humans, which they unknowingly consume about the fish. Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have found evidence of PBDEs in feed fed to farmed salmon - even salmon that is said to be free of PBDE.

Contamination is caused by feed

The chemicals were detected in such high concentrations that contaminated fish could end up on our plates and thus in the human body. But where does the chemical in the fish come from? Breeders use feed containing a type of synthetic flame retardant imported from countries that do not have advanced food safety regulations, physicians explain.

The food trading system is becoming more global

The international food trading system is becoming increasingly global, and so is animal feed, says study author Dr. Carla Ng from the Swanson School of Engineering at the University of Pittsburgh in a press release. Fish farms may import their feed or feed ingredients from a number of countries, including those without advanced food safety legislation. The United States and much of Europe banned several PBDEs in 2004 due to environmental and health issues, the expert said. PBDEs can act as so-called endocrine disruptors and affect developmental effects. Children are particularly at risk.

In which countries there are many PBDEs?

PBDEs continue to be found in areas where large quantities of electronic waste are processed and have poor recycling regulations, such as China, Thailand and Vietnam. As a result, salmon that grow up in environments without polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) but ingest feed from such countries may still contain hazardous levels of the chemical.

PDBEs also in the feed of cattle and sheep?

The study also includes some models of how the chemical enters the food chain, and additionally shows that PDBEs could also enter the feed of cattle and sheep. Conventional models for predicting human exposure to pollutants usually only consider the risk of people in their local environment. The model of Dr. med. However, Ng takes into account factors such as pollutants inhaled by gills, how the fish metabolizes and degrades pollutants and the concentration of pollutants in the feed.

Contaminated feed can also affect fish in a clean environment

It has been found that feed in areas that already have high concentrations of pollutants in the environment play a relatively minor role. However, in otherwise clean and well-regulated environments, contaminated feed can be thousands of times more important than the site of the farm to determine the PBDE content of salmon fillets, the author explains.

There are hot spots with high pollutant values

The model also applies to other species of fish with large global markets, such as Red Snapper. The model can predict the level of pollutants in livestock or feed produced in contaminated hot spots. Such so-called hot spots are places that have high pollutant values. As these chemicals circulate through our environment, many PBDEs end up in the sea. It is extremely important to pay attention to areas with particularly high pollutant concentrations, the experts emphasize.

How can you handle the chemical stress??

Hopefully, the model will help to develop better strategies to control contamination, such as the substitution of fish oil with botanicals or the decontamination of fish oil before human consumption, the researchers say. (As)