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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ^ 



"carry microorganisms such as Salmonella or Campylobacter, which are commonly found 

 in land animal carcasses and are the major causes of reported food-borne disease 

 (though fish may acquire bacteria from contaminated water). Some ethnic practices 

 in the preparation of fish for eating, place a small number of people at high risk from 

 botulism, but this is not a significant hazard for most consumers of fish. 



Thus, the health risks associated with seafood -although diverse -are identifiable 

 and, to a significant extent, controllable by innovative measures aimed at geographically 

 restricted or species-specific problems. Some risks, particularly those associated with 

 environmental contamination, may be increasing; their elimination will require a major 

 commitment on the part of both government and industry to change methods of waste 

 disposal in our society. These and the more visible hazards mentioned can be greatly 

 mitigated by a regulatory system specifically aimed at the causes, be they natural toxins, 

 microorganisms, or contaminants. However, this will require something other than 

 organoleptically based inspection systems, which may be useful for quality control and 

 grading but are essentially worthless for detecting and controlling health risks. 



NATURE AND EXTENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH RISKS 



The principal source of data on the incidence of seafood-borne illness in the 

 United States is the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Its compilations are 

 accumulated passively from state reports of food-borne outbreaks. An outbreak is an 

 incident involving two or more sick individuals, except for botulism and certain 

 chemical poisonings in which one sick individual constitutes an outbreak. A case is a 

 smgle ill person. Unfortunately, not all states repon each of the major types of 

 seafood-borne disease, and within slates there is considerable underreporiing of 

 mcidents for a variety of reasons. Thus. CDC data may not be representative of actual 

 disease occurrence and may omit altogether important seafood-originated disease 

 outside the reporting format. The CDC information is useful when supplemented by 

 other data on the occurrence of pathogens, an understanding of the patterns of seafood 

 harvest and processing, a knowledge of the mechanisms of disease development, 

 and -where available -independent epidemiological data. The CDC data cannot be 

 used to estimate risks from chemical contamination, because no disease outbreaks have 

 yet been reported from this cause. 



Seafood-borne illness reported by CDC in the 10-year period 1978-1987 totaled 

 558 outbreaks involving 5,980 cases. However, fish and shellfish constitute only 10.5% 

 of all outbreaks and 3.6% of all cases when food-borne illnesses from all foods are 

 considered. The number of people made ill from beef (4%) and turkey (3.7%) 

 exceeds the seafood total, whereas pork (2.7%) and chicken (2.6%) are slightly lower. 

 If shellfish (2.3%) and fish (1.2%) are considered separately, the number of reported 

 cases from each is lower than for any animal meat category. Nevertheless, when only 

 muscle foods (e.g., red meat, fish, poultry) are consumed, seafood-borne illness 

 represents 56% of all outbreaks and 21% of all cases when incidents of unknown 

 etiology are included. 



