Fish that Glow in the Dark

Well not quite, but that's what you would think if one was to believe some news reports!  What are the reports?  Very simply, blue fin tuna have been caught off the San Diego coast which contain ten times the level of Ceisum that the same species had in previous years.

What some news reports are not saying is that even these levels are still well below the limits considered to be safe by the US Government.

The Ceisum is considered to be in the Bluefin tuna as a result of them eating contaminated squid etc. in the vicinity of the Fukushima Nuclear Reactor in Japan which had a meltdown after the Tsunami in March 2011.  Whereas it is credible that the radioactive contamination in these fish was brought about by the Fukushima disaster I would question that it was from squid because of the very short life cycle of squid.  But, that is irrelevant as the Bluefin do have an increased level of Cesium.

Many of our customers are well aware that we use concentrated tuna as a component of our Omega 3 fish oils.  Naturally after reading some of the news reports about these Bluefin tuna, concerns were raised by some customers.  I can categorically assure you that there is nothing to be concerned about when taking our oil, for the following reasons.

  1. The contamination has only been found in blue fin tuna caught off the Californian Coast.
  2. Blue fin tuna is never caught and used for its oil.  It is a very expensive fish and used for sushi and every bit of the flesh is used.
  3. The tuna that we use are much smaller tuna called albacore and skipjack.  These are caught in the Southern Hemisphere.
  4. The albacore and skipjack do not migrate into the northern hemisphere. Neither do the northern versions migrate south across the equator. The equatorial region acts as a barrier. 
  5. Contamination in the ocean is largely kept in specific areas.  It is not surprising that there is contaminated fish off the coast of California.  If you have a look at the above diagram of the world’s ocean currents you can see that a current flows directly from Japan down the California coast and it does not cross over the equator.

I can assure you that if there was the slightest hint that any of our raw fish was contaminated in any way we would discontinue using it immediately and use a different source.

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