Gulf Seafood Safety Affirmed by IFT.

[Thor]

A report on the annual meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists. (Note that this post is not intended to be
political in any way, just to dispel some current attitudes
of about seafood safety in the GOA).
http://www.am-fe.ift.org/cms/ The report is on Session 214
on this page.

SEAFOOD.COM NEWS [seafoodnews.com] July 21 2010 - A panel of experts at the Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting said seafood in the Gulf of Mexico has not shown any signs of contamination in the three months since the oil spill and is safe for human consumption.

Inspectors have been rigorously testing fish in the Gulf since the spill, and even seafood in the thick of the area has tested safe, said Mike Voisin, CEO of Motivatit Seafoods in Houma, La. He noted that President Obama has visited the region three times since the spill, and eaten seafood from there each time.

He said that despite assurances from the president and numerous other officials, consumers still are wary of eating seafood from the Gulf. He told of an encounter with someone who refused to eat Louisiana crawfish - even though it's a freshwater catch. He asked food scientists and other experts to help combat that negative perception and spread the message that the Gulf Coast is safe and open for business.

'It's a great time to go to the Gulf South. The seafood will be great and the area will be welcoming,' he said. 'We have to separate myth from fact.'

The dockside value of Louisiana's fishery was $37.4 million in May 2009; it was $16.2 million this past May, according to Voisin. The state is No. 1 in the United States in shrimp, crawfish and oysters, and the fishing industry supports 34,078 jobs in coastal Louisiana.

That economic balance has been in danger since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded April 20 off the coast of Louisiana, killing 11 workers and sending more than 90 million gallons of oil gushing into the Gulf. The flow was slowed significantly last Thursday with a cap over the damaged well.

Voisin said photos have led people to believe the spill affected the entire Gulf Coast, but it represents just 300 of the Gulf's 7,500 miles of shoreline. About 35 percent of the Gulf of Mexico federal waters are closed to fishing.

'The Gulf of Mexico is 600,000 square miles of water,' he said. 'If you had a bathtub and put one drop of oil in it, that's about how much oil has spilled. It is significant, but the area is very capable of dealing with it. They are working well together, despite what you hear on TV.'

Another panelist, Ron Klein, program manager of the Food Safety and Sanitation Program in the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, said the concerted effort to clean up the Gulf is far more organized than when was part of the Exxon Valdez cleanup in 1989.

'The federal regulatory agencies have learned from their mistakes,' he said. 'There was no organization during Exxon. There is some political back and forth now, but people are actually working together and identifying problems. I am impressed by how quickly they're coming together.'

This is very good news from one of the leading food science organizations in the country.

[Gard]

Good news there...hope it holds up!

[gm2_in_co]

Originally Posted by Thor

A report on the annual meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists. (Note that this post is not intended to be
political in any way, just to dispel some current attitudes
of about seafood safety in the GOA).
http://www.am-fe.ift.org/cms/ The report is on Session 214
on this page.





This is very good news from one of the leading food science organizations in the country.

Great news... if true. Sadly, I no longer believe anything any agency tells me. Most especially if its government related.

[Gard]

Originally Posted by gm2_in_co

Great news... if true. Sadly, I no longer believe anything any agency tells me. Most especially if its government related.

The IFT is an independant, non-governmental oversight group, if I remember correctly. They are fairly reputable, but I would defer to Thor in the matter myself.

[Thor]

IFT is an organization of food scientists in the food industry and food scientists in academia. www.IFT.org

Mission statement and overview is here.
http://www.ift.org/about-us/our-purpose.aspx


Kind of like Bob Lee's Society of Audio Engineers, but for food technology professionals. A basic industry group.

I have run into a lot of people who have preconceived notions that
all fish right now out of the Gulf is unsafe. The media blitz is having the
unintended ( or maybe intended, watch at 11) effect of scaring consumers
away from many sources of Gulf seafood merely because it originates
in that body of water, irrespective of whether there is a safety problem.

This puts a double whammy on the region - not only are tourists cancelling
vacations and not going to restaurants - the fisherman and wholesalers who
distribute their goods nationally are being lambasted by constant media
reporting that may have absolutely no basis in fact.

I have a lot more faith in a food scientist with a PhD from Rutgers that an
ABC producer looking for news rating.

[MJ5150]

Can those food scientists come up with a way to make seafood taste better?

-Mike

[Gard]

Originally Posted by MJ5150

Can those food scientists come up with a way to make seafood taste better?

-Mike

No, they don't need to. You just need to get better taste.

[Thor]

That's what hot sauce is for.

[gm2_in_co]

Originally Posted by Thor

I have a lot more faith in a food scientist with a PhD from Rutgers that an ABC producer looking for news rating.

Oh tons of people have faith in scientists. They remain one of the last bastions of faith. The trouble is, I'm married to one and have an insider's view of scams like the ongoing flouride myth being perpetrated on the unsuspecting public by pristine "scientists."

Never forget, scientists like to eat and buy new toys as well. Therefore, they are corruptible. Therefore, they will be corrupted. "How many million would it take for you to publish a report saying gulf seafood is safe?"

[Thor]

Huh?

Ok, you're entitled to your opinion.

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Originally Posted by gm2_in_co

Oh tons of people have faith in scientists. They remain one of the last bastions of faith. The trouble is, I'm married to one and have an insider's view of scams like the ongoing flouride myth being perpetrated on the unsuspecting public by pristine "scientists."

Never forget, scientists like to eat and buy new toys as well. Therefore, they are corruptible. Therefore, they will be corrupted. "How many million would it take for you to publish a report saying gulf seafood is safe?"

By that you mean they are human.

And no, not everyone is corruptable.

[MatticusMania]

While it sounds like good news, I have to remain skeptical. Im interested in what mike_v_s might have to say.