Seafood safety: consumers and manufacturers at risk.

• Author: DeWaal, Caroline Smith

Extensive Media coverage of a handful of deaths and hundreds of illnesses from tainted meat has brought the issues of food safety and inspection into Americans' homes. Many who never had doubted the government's ability to protect them from contaminated food now wonder if the Federal agencies are doing their job.

However, what about the type of flesh food that is not subject to any comprehensive mandatory inspection program-seafood? With only a patchwork of mostly voluntary and state inspection programs, contaminated seafood all too easily makes its way to consumers' plates. Is this a cause for concem? It is to Vicki Peal, whose father died from Vibrio vulnificus eating raw oysters in 1992; Barbara Simpson, who lost her husband to scombroid poisoning from tuna; and the many others who have had friends or family die or become ill or have been sickened themselves from tainted fish. Without strong action by the Federal government, the victims of contaminated catch will continue to add up.

Many Americans have turned to seafood as a lower-fat, high-protein component of their diets. Yet, this potentially healthful food is harvested in the wild from an environment that may be polluted with sewage, pesticides, and industrial chemicals. Moreover, seafood can contain natural toxins, such as scombroid and ciguatera, that can cause illness and, in some instances, death.

Seafood constitutes a significant food safety problem. A representative from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) told a Congressional subcommittee in 1993 that seafood illnesses accounted for 20% of all reported incidents of food poisoning and five percent of outbreak-associated cases reported to the CDC between 1973 and 1991.

In the last two years, sources ranging from the National Academy of Sciences to Consumer Reports have documented that contaminated seafood all too easily reaches consumers after slipping through the patchwork of voluntary Federal and state programs. The following are just a few examples of unsafe seafood making its way to consumers' tables: * In 1992, at least nine people died in Florida following consumption of raw oysters contaminated with Vibrio vulnificus, and there were unconfirmed reports of more than four Vibrio-related deaths in 1993. This bacteria is common in the marine environment and can be fatal for individuals with certain conditions, such as alcoholism, liver disease, cancer, diabetes, kidney disease, AIDS, and blood disorders. More than two years ago, Public Voice wrote to Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner David Kessler, urging him to put a mandatory waming label on raw molluscan shellfish to alert at-risk consumers of the danger to their health. The FDA has failed to take any action on this request.

A daughter of one of the victims, Vicki Peal, wrote Kessler, expressing outrage that not enough was being done to warn the public about the risks posed by raw shellfish. "If my father had the knowledge that I have today . . . he might have been able to seek help and receive treatment. You had this knowledge for years . . . why didn't you...