Seafood is one of the most nutrient-rich food consumed all over the world, providing a prime source of high quality protein, vitamins, and minerals. However, being water-borne, this makes seafood more likely to be contaminated with pathogens, toxins, and chemical pollutants, which poses a high safety risk with their consumption. According to the 2013 Annual Surveillance Report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for Foodborne Disease Outbreaks in the United States, fish and mollusks are the top two most commonly implicated food categories for the outbreaks in the United States in 2013. The pathogen-food category pairs that were responsible for most outbreaks were scombroid toxin in fish (histamine fish poisoning), ciguatoxin
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Marine toxins produce neurological, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular syndromes, in which there are no antidotes except for histamine, and supportive care is the main form of treatment (Sobel and others 2005). Ciguatera and Scombroid fish poisoning are the two most common finfish poisoning worldwide and in the United States. Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is a common case of finfish poisoning especially in Florida and Hawaii, caused by consuming tropical reef fish contaminated with ciguatoxins produced by dinoflagellates. This causes various gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and dysuria, and later neurologic symptoms such as vertigo, ataxia, and seizures. Scombroid fish poisoning (SFP), also known as histamine fish poisoning, is due to the consumption of improperly handled/stored fish. The bacterial spoilage of finfish releases high levels of histamines that cause symptoms in humans such as flushing, headaches, bitter taste, cramps, nausea, diarrhea, palpitations, and anxiety, and more severe reactions are rare but have been reported. In most healthy patients, the symptoms are self-limiting. Other forms of seafood poisoning are various types of shellfish poisoning such as Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP), Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning (NSP), Amnesic …show more content…
Water pollution from chemical residues such as mercury, selenium, DDT, and various others can make seafood unsafe to eat as the chemical contaminants make their way into the smaller fishes and then concentrate and accumulate to higher levels as they get consumed by bigger fishes, a process known as biomagnification. Long term exposure to these chemical contaminants can lead to serious diseases such as neurological damage, birth defects, and cancer. However, chemical hazards have to be present in high toxic concentrations to pose a threat to human health. Thus, control measures and regulations to minimize contamination of aquatic environments have to be strictly imposed and implemented. (Huss 2004) All in all, seafood-associated infections are most commonly caused by the consumption of contaminated seafood, particularly when consumed raw. Thus, proper cooking and storage would provide safer measures to avoid acquiring seafood-borne illnesses. Additionally, seafood can be contaminated any time before, during, and after harvest, thus effectively regulated measures to ensure cleaner, uncontaminated waters, proper preparation, processing, and storage of seafood to prevent cross-contamination, and further cooking would reduce the cases of seafood-borne
Marine toxins produce neurological, gastrointestinal, and cardiovascular syndromes, in which there are no antidotes except for histamine, and supportive care is the main form of treatment (Sobel and others 2005). Ciguatera and Scombroid fish poisoning are the two most common finfish poisoning worldwide and in the United States. Ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP) is a common case of finfish poisoning especially in Florida and Hawaii, caused by consuming tropical reef fish contaminated with ciguatoxins produced by dinoflagellates. This causes various gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and dysuria, and later neurologic symptoms such as vertigo, ataxia, and seizures. Scombroid fish poisoning (SFP), also known as histamine fish poisoning, is due to the consumption of improperly handled/stored fish. The bacterial spoilage of finfish releases high levels of histamines that cause symptoms in humans such as flushing, headaches, bitter taste, cramps, nausea, diarrhea, palpitations, and anxiety, and more severe reactions are rare but have been reported. In most healthy patients, the symptoms are self-limiting. Other forms of seafood poisoning are various types of shellfish poisoning such as Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP), Neurotoxic Shellfish Poisoning (NSP), Amnesic …show more content…
Water pollution from chemical residues such as mercury, selenium, DDT, and various others can make seafood unsafe to eat as the chemical contaminants make their way into the smaller fishes and then concentrate and accumulate to higher levels as they get consumed by bigger fishes, a process known as biomagnification. Long term exposure to these chemical contaminants can lead to serious diseases such as neurological damage, birth defects, and cancer. However, chemical hazards have to be present in high toxic concentrations to pose a threat to human health. Thus, control measures and regulations to minimize contamination of aquatic environments have to be strictly imposed and implemented. (Huss 2004) All in all, seafood-associated infections are most commonly caused by the consumption of contaminated seafood, particularly when consumed raw. Thus, proper cooking and storage would provide safer measures to avoid acquiring seafood-borne illnesses. Additionally, seafood can be contaminated any time before, during, and after harvest, thus effectively regulated measures to ensure cleaner, uncontaminated waters, proper preparation, processing, and storage of seafood to prevent cross-contamination, and further cooking would reduce the cases of seafood-borne