Seafood
- See also: Fish as food. For the UK band, see Seafood (band).
Seafood refers to any sea animal or plant that is served as food and eaten by humans. Seafoods include seawater animals, such as fish and shellfish (including molluscs and crustaceans).[1] By extension, in North America although not generally in the United Kingdom, the term seafood is also applied to similar animals from fresh water and all edible aquatic animals are collectively referred to as seafood.
Edible seaweeds are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia. See the category of sea vegetables.
The harvesting of wild seafood is known as fishing and the cultivation and farming of seafood is known as aquaculture, mariculture, or in the case of fish, fish farming. Seafood is often distinguished from meat, although it is still animal and is excluded in a vegetarian diet. Seafood is an important source of protein in many diets around the world, especially in coastal areas.
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Types of seafood
There are over 32,000 species of fish, making them the most diverse group of vertebrates. However, only a small number of the total species are considered food fish and are commonly eaten.
The principal food fish species groups are:
Perishability
Fish is a highly perishable product. The fishy smell of dead fish is due to the breakdown of amino acids into biogenic amines and ammonia.[2]
Live food fish are often transported in tanks at high expense for an international market that prefers its seafood killed immediately before it is cooked. This process originally was started by Lindeye. Delivery of live fish without water is also being explored.[3] While some seafood restaurants keep live fish in aquaria for display purposes or for cultural beliefs, the majority of live fish are kept for dining customers. The live food fish trade in Hong Kong, for example, is estimated to have driven imports of live food fish to more than 15,000 tonnes in 2000. Worldwide sales that year were estimated at US$400 million, according to the World Resources Institute.[4]
If the cool chain has not been adhered to correctly, food products generally decay and become harmful before the validity date printed on the package. As the potential harm for a consumer when eating rotten fish is much larger than for example with dairy products, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has introduced regulation in the USA requiring the use of a time temperature Indicator on certain fresh chilled seafood products.[5]
Preservation
Fresh fish is a highly perishable food product, so it must be eaten promptly or discarded; it can be kept for only a short time. In many countries, fresh fish are filleted and displayed for sale on a bed of crushed ice or refrigerated. Fresh fish is most commonly found near bodies of water, but the advent of refrigerated train and truck transportation has made fresh fish more widely available inland.
Long term preservation of fish is accomplished in a variety of ways. The oldest and still most widely used techniques are drying and salting. Desiccation (complete drying) is commonly used to preserve fish such as cod. Partial drying and salting is popular for the preservation of fish like herring and mackerel. Fish such as salmon, tuna, and herring are cooked and canned. Most fish are filleted prior to canning, but some small fish (e.g. sardines) are only decapitated and gutted prior to canning.
Consumption
Seafood is consumed all over the world; it provides the world's prime source of high-quality protein: 14–16% of the animal protein consumed world-wide; over one billion people rely on seafood as their primary source of animal protein.[6][7] Fish is among the most common food allergens.[8]
Australia, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal are the greatest consumers of seafood per capita in the world.[9]
The Food Standards Agency recommends that we eat at least two portions of seafood per week, one of which should be oil-rich. There are over 100 different types of seafood available around the coast of the UK.
Oil-rich fish such as mackerel or herring are full of long chain Omega-3 oils, also found in every cell of the human body. These oils are vital for human biological functions especially brain functionality.
Whitefish such as haddock and cod are very low in fat and calories which, combined with oily fish rich in Omega-3 such as mackerel, sardines, fresh tuna, salmon and trout, can help to protect against coronary heart disease, as well as helping to develop strong bones and teeth.
Shellfish are particularly rich in zinc, which is essential for healthy skin and muscles as well as fertility. Casanova reputedly ate 50 oysters a day.
Health benefits of eating seafood
Research over the past few decades has shown that the nutrients and minerals in seafood can make improvements in brain development and reproduction and has highlighted the role for seafood in the functionality of the human body.[10]
Heart health
Doctors have known of strong links between fish and healthy hearts ever since they noticed that fish-eating Inuit populations in the Arctic had low levels of heart disease. One study has suggested that adding one portion of fish a week to your diet can cut your chances of suffering a heart attack by half.
Fish is thought to protect the heart because eating less saturated fat and more Omega-3 can help to lower the amount of cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood – two fats that, in excess, increase the risk of heart disease. Omega-3 fats also have natural built-in anti-oxidants, which are thought to stop the thickening and damaging of artery walls.
Regularly eating fish oils is also thought to reduce the risk of arrhythmia – irregular electrical activity in the heart which increases the risk of sudden heart attacks.[11]
Brain functionality
The human brain is 10-12% lipids,[12] including the Omega-3 fat DHA. Recent studies suggest that older people can boost their brain power by eating more oily fish, with those who enjoy it regularly are able to remember better and think faster than those who eat none. Other research has also suggested that adding more DHA to the diet of children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder can reduce their behavioural problems and improve their reading skills, while there have also been links suggested between DHA and better concentration. Separate studies have suggested that older people who eat fish at least once a week could also have a lower chance of developing dementia and Alzheimer's disease.[11]
Joint benefits
Including fish as a regular part of a balanced diet has been shown to help the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis – a painful condition that causes joints to swell up, reducing strength and mobility. Studies also show that sufferers feel less stiff and sore in the morning if they keep their fish oil intake topped up.[13]
Recent research has also found a link between Omega-3 fats and a slowing down in the wearing of cartilage that leads to osteoarthritis, opening the door for more research into whether eating more fish could help prevent the disease.
Iodine, Selenium, Vitamin A, Zinc
Fish is high in minerals such as iodine and selenium, which keep the body running smoothly. Iodine is essential for the thyroid gland, which controls growth and metabolism, while selenium is used to make enzymes that protect cell walls from cancer-causing free radicals, and helps prevent DNA damage caused by radiation and some chemicals.
Fish is also an excellent source of vitamin A, which is needed for healthy skin and eyes, and vitamin D, which is needed to help the body absorb calcium to strengthen teeth and bones.
Mercury content
Fish and shellfish have a natural tendency to concentrate mercury in their bodies, often in the form of methylmercury, a highly toxic organic compound of mercury. Species of fish that are high on the food chain, such as shark, swordfish, king mackerel, albacore tuna, and tilefish contain higher concentrations of mercury than others. This is because mercury is stored in the muscle tissues of fish, and when a predatory fish eats another fish, it assumes the entire body burden of mercury in the consumed fish. Since fish are less efficient at depurating than accumulating methylmercury, fish-tissue concentrations increase over time. Thus species that are high on the food chain amass body burdens of mercury that can be ten times higher than the species they consume. This process is called biomagnification. The first occurrence of widespread mercury poisoning in humans occurred this way in Minamata, Japan, now called Minamata disease.
Overfishing
Research into population trends of various species of seafood is pointing to a global collapse of seafood species by 2048. Such a collapse would occur due to pollution and overfishing, threatening oceanic ecosystems, according to some researchers.[14]
A major international scientific study released in November 2006 in the journal Science found that about one-third of all fishing stocks worldwide have collapsed (with a collapse being defined as a decline to less than 10% of their maximum observed abundance), and that if current trends continue all fish stocks worldwide will collapse within fifty years.[15] In July 2009, Boris Worm of Dalhousie University, the author of the November 2006 study in Science, co-authored an update on the state of the world's fisheries with one of the original study's critics, Ray Hilborn of the University of Washington at Seattle. The new study found that through good fisheries management techniques even depleted fish stocks can be revived and made commercially viable again.[16]
The FAO State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2004 report estimates that in 2003, of the main fish stocks or groups of resources for which assessment information is available, "approximately one-quarter were overexploited, depleted or recovering from depletion (16%, 7% and 1% respectively) and needed rebuilding."[17]
The National Fisheries Institute, a trade advocacy group representing the United States seafood industry, disagree. They claim that currently observed declines in fish population are due to natural fluctuations and that enhanced technologies will eventually alleviate whatever impact humanity is having on oceanic life.[18]
In an effort to counteract the detrimental effects of overfishing, there has been an emergence of retailers and restaurants only dealing in sustainable seafood. In an effort to expand the availability of sustainable seafood, i love blue sea opened in March 2010 selling only sustainable seafood online and delivering overnight via FedEx. They follow the recommendations set forth by both Seafood Watch and Greenpeace USA.[19]
See also
- Cold chain
- Fish (food)
- Safe Harbor Certified Seafood
- Fish market
- Sustainable seafood
- Got Mercury?
- Seafood Watch, sustainable consumer guide (USA)
- Friend of the Sea
References
- ↑ Epicurious Food Dictionary
- ↑ N. Narain and Nunes, M.L. Marine Animal and Plant Products. In: Handbook of Meat, Poultry and Seafood Quality, L.M.L. Nollet and T. Boylston, eds. Blackwell Publishing 2007, p 247.
- ↑ WIPO
- ↑ The World Resources Institute, The live reef fish trade
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ World Health Organization.
- ↑ Tidwell, James H. and Allan, Geoff L.
- ↑ Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network
- ↑ Aquamedia
- ↑ "Nutritional Aspects of Fish." Irish Sea Fisheries Board
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "What's so healthy about seafood". Australian Government, Fisheries Research and Development Corporation.
- ↑ Chudler EH (n.d.). Brain facts and figures. University of Washington. Retrieved 26 Dec. 2009
- ↑ Rice R. (2004)Seafood - an essential part of 21st century eating patterns. The Fish Foundation.
- ↑ World Seafood Supply Could Run Out by 2048 Researchers Warn boston.com. Retrieved 6 February 2007
- ↑ "'Only 50 years left' for sea fish", BBC News. 2 November 2006.
- ↑ Study Finds Hope in Saving Saltwater Fish The New York Times. Retrieved 4 August 2009
- ↑ "The Status of the Fishing Fleet," The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture: 2004.
- ↑ Seafood Could Collapse by 2050, Experts Warn, msnbc.com. Retrieved 22 July 2007.
- ↑ "An Easy Way to Buy Sustainable Seafood". New York Times. 2010-4-12. http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/an-easy-way-to-buy-sustainable-seafood/.
- Robson, A. 2006. "Shellfish view of omega-3 and sustainable fisheries." Nature 444, 1002
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