NOAA continues to re-test seafood from the Gulf of Mexico to demonstrate to American and worldwide consumers that it is safe to eat, and announced last week it will continue this re-testing into the summer.
Before waters were opened to fishing, NOAA and FDA extensively tested seafood from those waters, and NOAA has now completed two additional rounds of sampling and testing from each of those reopened areas. Thousands of publicly available test results prove Gulf seafood is safe from oil and dispersant contamination.
In June 2010, NOAA, FDA and the Gulf states agreed upon an extensive sampling and testing procedure. Areas once closed to fishing were reopened only when all seafood sampled in the area passed both the established sensory and chemical testing for oil and dispersant.
"Gulf seafood is consistently passing FDA's safety tests by a wide margin," said Eric Schwaab, Assistant NOAA Administrator in charge of NOAA's Fisheries Service. "We are continuing to test, and we are making the data available to the public, so they can make fully informed purchasing decisions."
The nearly 500 samples in the two rounds of post-opening testing are comprised of more than 4,300 fish and shrimp, since a sample consists of multiple individuals. They are a representative sample of the commercially and recreationally important fish in the Gulf, and cover the areas of the Gulf that have been reopened to fishing. The specific locations, dates of sampling, species type, and test results are available publicly for each of the samples.
