The information below explains better than I did about the food chain. This will not explain how the fish company knows that the filets are mercury free. "?Once mercury gets into water, much of it settles to the bottom where bacteria in the mud or sand convert it to the organic form of methylmercury. Fish absorb methylmercury when they eat smaller aquatic organisms. Larger and older fish absorb more methylmercury as they eat other fish. In this way, the amount of methylmercury builds up as it passes through the food chain. Fish eliminate methylmercury slowly, and so it builds up in fish in much greater concentrations than in the surrounding water. Methylmercury generally reaches the highest levels in predatory fish at the top of the aquatic food chain.? http://www.oehha.ca.gov/fish/hg/index.html"

jasdip - There's an old saying - do all things in moderation... ;-) Healthy people aren't generally affected by an occasional use of so-called "bad" foods or a "harmful" preparation method. I never give it a thought to consume charcoal grilled meats a few times a year, but I might want to be concerned about toxic carcinogens associated with grilling if we consumed grilled meat 5 days a week.... I got out of the habit of using olive oil for cooking/baking - anything where it is heated - years ago and use coconut oil instead. But I use olive oil for making dressing. Coconut oil doesn't make a great source for oil in salad dressings because it gets hard at cool room temperatures (melts around 77-degrees F.), but in the winter it's really hard in my cold kitchen. I just read this statistic while doing research about chia seeds and diabetes for a diabetic friend of mine. One ounce of chia seeds (just over 2-3/4 tablespoons - which is a LOT to consume) has 4,915 mg. omega-3. I easily sprinkle 1/2 to 1 t. at a time onto a variety of foods throughout the day. I add chia seeds to all our breads - it helps keep bread fresher longer. I make up a batch of chia gel (chia seeds and water) and keep it in the refrigerator. I'll add it to water I drink when going out on these hot days to help keep me hydrated, and for drinking during outdoor activities. -Grainlady

No one should be eating ANY tuna to excess: Excerpted from the EPA website (URL: http://water.epa.gov/scitech/swguidance/fishshellfish/outreach/advice_index.cfm): "By following these three recommendations for selecting and eating fish or shellfish, women and young children will receive the benefits of eating fish and shellfish and be confident that they have reduced their exposure to the harmful effects of mercury. 1.Do not eat Shark, Swordfish, King Mackerel, or Tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury. 2.Eat up to 12 ounces (2 average meals) a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury. ◦Five of the most commonly eaten fish that are low in mercury are shrimp, canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish. ◦Another commonly eaten fish, albacore ("white") tuna has more mercury than canned light tuna. So, when choosing your two meals of fish and shellfish, you may eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) of albacore tuna per week. ....6. The advice about canned tuna is in the advisory, but what's the advice about tuna steaks? Because tuna steak generally contains higher levels of mercury than canned light tuna, when choosing your two meals of fish and shellfish, you may eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) of tuna steak per week. 7. What if I eat more than the recommended amount of fish and shellfish in a week? One week's consumption of fish does not change the level of methylmercury in the body much at all. If you eat a lot of fish one week, you can cut back for the next week or two. Just make sure you average the recommended amount per week." From Consumer Rpts (URL: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/january/food/mercury-in-tuna/overview/index.htm) "Results from our tuna tests (canned, all kinds), conducted at an outside lab, underscore the longheld concern for those people. We found: Every sample contained measurable levels of mercury, ranging from 0.018 to 0.774 parts per million. The Food and Drug Administration can take legal action to pull products containing 1 ppm or more from the market. (It never has, according to an FDA spokesman.) The EPA compiles fish advisories when state and local governments have found high contaminant levels in certain locally caught fish. Samples of white tuna had 0.217 to 0.774 ppm of mercury and averaged 0.427 ppm. By eating 2.5 ounces of any of the tested samples, a woman of childbearing age would exceed the daily mercury intake that the EPA considers safe. Samples of light tuna had 0.018 to 0.176 ppm and averaged 0.071 ppm. At that average, a woman of childbearing age eating 2.5 ounces would get less than the EPA's limit, but for about half the tested samples, eating 5 ounces would exceed the limit. In 2006 we scrutinized the results of the FDA's tests in 2002 to 2004 of mercury levels in hundreds of samples of canned tuna. The agency's white-tuna samples averaged 0.353 ppm; light tuna, 0.118 ppm. But we found that as much as 6 percent of the FDA's light-tuna samples had at least as much mercury as the average in white tuna - in some cases more than twice as much. Given the uncertainties about the impact of occasional fetal exposure to such high levels, we urged the FDA to warn consumers about occasional spikes in mercury levels in canned light tuna. More than four years later, the FDA still hasn't issued such a warning. When we asked why, an FDA spokesman indicated that the agency had already taken the spikes into account when formulating its mercury advice. " ******************* ******************* BTW, if you think these guidelines ONLY apply to children or pregnant/nursing women, that's not true. A few years ago there was a report of an NFL football player who was trying to move to a healthier diet of less meat and lower cholesterol. As he didn't really like fish as a rule, he switched to canned tunafish. He was eating a can of tuna almost every day. After a few months he started to have numbness in his limbs (parethesia) and muscle weakness. A doctor finally diagnosed his illness, and got him on a natural detox diet. Extreme? Yes. But mercury poisoning is just as real a threat as lead poisoning. Heavy metals toxicity is something to always be aware of.

I don't buy the fish from Asia or South America... a lot of things like farmed shrimp are helping deplete the world of ecologically-significant mangrove trees, in addition to their polluted rearing environments. Up here in the north, I have no idea where the Gulf of Mexico shrimp were caught, so I tend to avoid, but not as hard and fast as avoiding the Asian sourced shrimp. In season here, I have a source for rhode island red shrimp... I eat those with gusto! Most of the year they are in waters too deep to net. Sweeter and more delicate than regular shrimp, they don't ship well. I will buy some farmed fish - Arctic char when I can find it - it is raised in self-contained lakes in Canada or Iceland, and I trust those sources. I'll also eat rainbow trout. I love just about all fish, except maybe flounder (too bland). But for sustainability reasons there are some I no longer eat. My toro (bluefin tuna belly) days are done. I''m not fond of the canned fish taste (tuna, salmon), although there is a limited place for tinned sardines if packed in EVOO by a reputable company. I can't wait to get a recreational fishing license when I move. Fresh caught lake or river fish can't be beat! So, anyhow, for me location counts. North America or, when appropriate, northern Europe.