Florida seafood products are safe and plentiful and have not been affected by the oil spill. Most of the Gulf of Mexico is untouched by oil, and Florida’s commercial fishermen continue to harvest products from these clean waters. Florida government agencies are continually monitoring water samples off Florida’s coast. If and when Florida waters are impacted by the oil spill, authorities will take immediate action to close the waters to commercial seafood harvesting.
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Monitoring the Gulf Oil Spill and Ensuring Food Safety
Food and Drug Administration
www.fda.gov/Food/ucm210970.htm
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Marine Fisheries Service, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), other Federal agencies, and several state authorities in the regions affected by the recent oil spill. FDA continues to closely monitor this developing situation and its potential impact on the safety of seafood harvested from the area. Although crude oil has the potential to taint seafood with flavors and odors caused by exposure to hydrocarbon chemicals, the public should not be concerned about the safety of seafood in stores at this time. There is no reason to believe that any contaminated product has made its way to the market. Fish and shellfish harvested from areas unaffected by the closures are considered safe to eat.
Florida Department of Environmental Protection
www.dep.state.fl.us/deepwaterhorizon/default.htm
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is designated as the lead state agency for responding to potential impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill along Florida’s shoreline. This website provides updates and information on response actions and impacts to Florida.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
http://myfwc.com/OilSpill/index.htm
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, working with DEP, county governments, water management districts and several federal agencies, is conducting taking water samples and testing for contamination in sediments, fish and shellfish along Florida's coastline and into the Gulf of Mexico. The FWC is also involved in locating the presence of oil and has scientists aboard an FWC vessel offshore. Pilots conduct regular reconnaissance flights to monitor Florida's shoreline for the presence of oil.
FDACS Division of Aquaculture
http://shellfish.floridaaquaculture.com/seas/seas_statusmap.htm
This website, maintained by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Aquaculture, provides information on Florida shellfish. Click on any shellfish harvesting region to find its open or closed daily status.
FDACS Division of Food Safety
www.freshfromflorida.com/fs/
The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Food Safety, is responsible for assuring the public of a safe, wholesome and properly represented food supply through permitting and inspection of food establishments, inspection of food products, and performance of specialized laboratory analyses on a variety of food products sold or produced in the state. The division monitors food from farm gate through processing and distribution to the retail point of purchase.
Agricultural Emergency Report
http://ag-er.blogspot.com
AG-ER is a blog by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Marketing and Development. Dealing with severe weather and other emergency issues, it provides an interactive informational exchange for Florida’s agricultural community.
Florida Attorney General’s Office
http://myfloridalegal.com/deepwaterhorizon
This web site provides information regarding the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the Florida Attorney General's communications with attorney generals of other coastal states, state agencies, business leaders, legislators, BP, Transocean, Halliburton, Cameron, the President of the United States, and the U.S. Attorney General’s Office.
Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant Programs
http://gulfseagrant.tamu.edu/oilspill/index.htm
Hosted by the four Gulf of Mexico Sea Grant Programs, this web site provides visitors with access to data concerning the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Download the Florida Gulf Safe Seafood Map (PDF)
Testing Finds Gulf Seafood is Pristine
Reprinted from www.Seafood.com News
By John Sackton, June 17, 2010
Initial tests by NOAA on over 600 samples of Gulf seafood, taken from both outside the closed areas and inside, show that so far, seafood has remained pristine. According to Dr. Steven Murawski, Chief Science Advisor for NOAA Fisheries Service, samples have been tested both for sensory and chemical analysis. The sensory analysis is being done at the NOAA lab in Pascagoula, MS, and the chemical analysis is being done in Washington State.
Murawski said that the chemical tests involve looking for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (P AH), which are the items of concern in an oil spill. He said that the baseline tests of Gulf seafood showed pristine levels. In fact, seafood from the Gulf was cleaner and less contaminated that typical seafood samples from some other coasts, primarily, says Murawski, because the areas sampled in the Gulf are far from any large population centers. He said that closer to major cities, there is more environmental contamination with PAH's.
The chemical tests look for a variety of compounds, and they are sensitive for some compounds down to the level of 2 parts per billion. The samples tested so far revealed no differences between samples taken outside the closed zones, and samples taken from within the closed zones. The NOAA scientists were a little surprised at how clean the samples actually were, given the long history of oil related activities in the Gulf.
On the same front, Dr. Michael Taylor, deputy commissioner at the FDA, told Congress yesterday about the FDA and NOAA testing program. He said that current science does not suggest that dispersants bioaccumulate in seafood. NOAA, however, is conducting studies to look at that issue and he said FDA will be closely reviewing the results of those studies.
The FDA has deployed its Mobile Chemistry Laboratory to the Florida Department of Agriculture in Tallahassee, which will be used to run chemical analyses of samples collected by States for select volatile organic compounds. The technique will screen seafood samples for volatile headspace chemical compounds that may be indicative of petroleum taint. Positive results from these tests will trigger further chemical analysis for PAH. FDA has seven employees currently deployed to the Mobile Lab.
