Quick Guide: Consuming Sustainable and Safe Seafood

Seafood is a unique sort of food. Delicious yes, but also susceptible to all sorts of pollutants that are cast into the sea or the tanks where some seafood is raised. And it’s those pollutants that you’ll want to keep off your plate and out of your body. If there’s one food group you should do your homework on before consuming, it’s seafood.

The Good

Sadly, these days there are more bad options than good when it comes to seafood. Here are some that you can eat without having to worry about what nasty stuff it might contain or if the creature you’re eating is on the verge of extinction.

Ideal Choices

• Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon: Packed with all sorts of healthy vitamins and Omega-3's this variety of salmon is a sure bet. This includes wild caught canned salmon as well.
• Atlantic Mackerel: A fish that’s packed with protein and Omega-3’s, it pairs well with bold seasonings.
• Wild Caught Pacific Sardines: Inexpensive and one of the richest sources of Omega-3’s on the planet.
• Safe Catch Tuna (see bottom of post for details): Our new favorite seafood find. Strict mercury testing, canned for easy storage, and delivered to your door.

Okay Choices

• Albacore Tuna (troll or pole caught, from the U.S. or British Columbia)
• Sablefish/Black Cod (from Alaska and Canadian Pacific)

The Bad

Below is a list of seafood that should frequently be avoided because they contain high levels of mercury, other contaminants, and/or is overfished/unsustainable.

• Tilapia
• Farmed Salmon
• Catfish
• Farmed Shrimp
• Atlantic Cod
• Atlantic Halibut, Flounder and Sole
• Atlantic Bluefin Tuna
• Caviar
• Chilean Seabass
• Eel
• Imported King Crab
• Swordfish
• Grouper

It can get frustrating trying to find healthy and sustainable seafood to eat. It all depends on the environment from which the seafood was raised/taken. Keep in mind you can choose to eat seafood sparingly and opt for cleaner Omega-3 supplements, which will give you the same health benefits.

For further investigation check out this handy tool from the Monterey Bay Aquarium that lets you search which seafoods are safe for eating. They’ve got an app you can download too.

Editor's Note: Canned Tuna Fish Can Be Good!

We've recently discovered an incredible brand of canned tuna called Safe Catch. The Safe Catch team developed a proprietary technology which allows them to test each tuna to provide the lowest mercury content of any tuna on the market - 10 times stricter than FDA guidelines. You might have even seen them on Shark Tank.

You can order Safe Catch direct from their website and they'll ship right to your door. Sustainable, healthy, and mercury tested!

(We have absolutely no affiliation with Safe Catch, we just love the product.)