Tilapia is worse than bacon

9 years ago

I'm not sure if this belongs here, or on Hot Topics, but here goes.

This is kind of disconcerting. Here we are thinking we are doing good, only to be warned that we might not be.

I'm not sure how credible this is, and it is rather over-the-top, but I've heard in the past that farm raised fish is not nearly as healthy as wild caught, for some of the reasons noted in the article.

They are claiming that farm raised tilapia is low in Omega-3 fatty acids (the good ones) and high Omega-6 fatty acids (the bad ones) because they are fed a diet of corn and soy. Fish rarely eat corn and soy, they eat small things floating in the water and water plants.

There's also the issue of antibiotics and hormones.

I don't eat much fish anyway - it's expensive, endangered and toxic. But these issues are worth exploring, at the very least.

Here is a link that might be useful: Link

Featured Answer

grainlady_ks

9 years ago

To quote The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, "the lesser of two evils is still evil".

In an article I read recently, a lot of fish is being mislabeled, so that red snapper may actually be tilapia. "Eighty-four percent of seafood eaten in U.S. imported; 2 percent inspected." A large portion is imported from China - need I say more? There is large scale fish fraud in restaurant and grocery store fish. Eighty-seven percent of snapper sold is NOT snapper. It's illegal to mislabel fish. Buyer be ware!

-Grainlady

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Comments (24)

foodonastump
9 years ago
I find it so confusing to figure out which fish are good to eat. Depending on which list you read, their leanings may be towards health benefits of the omega-whatevers, or sustainability, or contamination with pcbs, mercury, etc.

What are some top picks across all categories? Is there a such thing, halfway readily available? I'd love to feel good about what I buy, eat, and serve.
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
9 years ago
If they stop farming fish, there will be no more fish in the ocean in a few months.

Poor people have no choice but to eat dirty fish. Not everyone one can afford wild caught seafood.

dcarch
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David said "do you have any problem with those White Brook Tilapia reproducing in your tanks? Curious because thats often a problem, and I see they sell a mixed lot of males and females, the males growing considerably faster. Do you find the same?" A: If kept in high densities, spawning is extremely rare. The few that still manage to usually lose most of the fry to predation by the other adults in the tank. Another way to prevent spawning with mixed sex fish is to grow them in cages in the tanks. With larger mesh floors, they have nowhere to nest. If spawning is prevented or mostly prevented, the females will grow ALMOST as fast as the males, but they will still lag slightly. In my experience, even in lower density situations, these fish typically don't start spawning until 5 months of age, just a month shy of harvesting anyway. It is mostly a non-issue on a 6 month harvest cycle. David said "What temperature range is the water in your tanks, and do you need to do any supplementary heating or cooling? Reason I ask is that over 5-6 months, getting the water up to 75-80º might add a significant amount of weight, and you might accomplish that by some hillbilly engineering." A: I start fry out inside until they reach about 3 inches in plain old aquariums usually. I keep them at 80-84 degrees. 82 seems to be the sweet spot with them. Outside, my tanks will range from 72 in the spring to about 90 in the heat of summer, and then back down to about 68 in the late fall when I do my final harvesting for the year. I use a somewhat earth sheltered greenhouse for most of them, which helps to regulate temps a great deal. I usually overwinter about 500 fry minimum every year, but sometimes up to 1500 when I'm feeling up to it. David said "When I did this commercially, we raised them in either fixed or floating cages. Cram them in around 250 per cubic yard and feed them a high-calorie supplement with 15% protein, they'd filter the algae in the water coming through the cages and get supplementary protein and all the vitamins and such." A: As long as you start them out when young on a high protein diet, they will do good in such a situation. I have friends who simply stock them in their fishing ponds every year, and they don't even feed them. The fish simply browse on the diatoms, algae, vascular plant life and inverts already in the pond. They harvest some impressive fish in the fall when temperatures drop. The tilapia get lethargic and just hang out at the water surface making them easy to net up or cast net for them. David said "dollar a piece for a 1/2 inch fingerling. Wow. Linked is an article about large scale fry production, I did all the stuff in Cote d'Ivoire, the Campbell, D. in the references. I used to have to deal with some taxonomical geeks - no matter what they call it, its all the same species of nile tilapia" A: I buy some new stock just about every year to keep genetic diversity where it should be, but it doesn't require buying a ton of fish to do that (50 a year works fine). After I established my initial "colony" of fish, cost of stock has become largely irrelevant to my overall production costs. Sometimes I will buy a very large number of fish to stock (500+), and when I do that I buy at wholesale prices which are far less than what they ask for on small lots. Your last comment about "no matter what they call it, it's all the same species of nile tilapia" I'm unsure of what you mean. There are numerous strains within Oreochromis Niloticus that are VASTLY different. Recent studies have even shown that they carry different sex determinant markers (A good study from UMD is out there as well as one from Virginia Poly off the top of my head). This is generally indicative of distinctly separate evolution of various communities of fish (usually prolonged geographical separation), even if they are in the same species. In this case, one could quite easily argue that there are numerous subspecies of Niles (and other tilapia as well of course), and that many of them have quite different traits and requirements.
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I sure don't find tilapia tasteless...I think it's a sweet fish, very similar to farm raised catfish. I think you will like it crusted with ground almonds. Put a handful of almonds in the blender and turn it to dust...well almost dust. Put it on a plate and add some grated lemon rind ands tir it in. Dip your fillets in a little melted butter and coat with the nut mix and bake at 350 for about 10 to 15 minutes or until the fish just flakes. I first had tilapia when I was on safari. there was lots of strange things that wew ere served, things like things that tasted like sweet potatoes but where white and all sorts of different fruits that I have never heard of before or rarely since....and one day at lunch theys erved up this delicious pan fried fish. I asked what it was and was told it was tilapia from lake Victoria. I have since learned that tilapia was first farmed in an area near Lake Victoria. Now turbot....that's a fish I consider tasteless. Linda C
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annie1992
9 years ago
I'm not a fan of tilapia, it always seems too soft and "mushy". I'm picky about trout too, I eat it smoked but find it pretty strong to just have by itself.

I've also read about the horrible conditions they raise fish in, so I try to avoid farm raised fish if I can. I'm fortunate enough to be somewhere that I can catch my own, but if it were that easy they'd call it "catching" instead of "fishing", LOL.

FOAS, try the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch at http://www.seafoodwatch.org/. They've included Great Lakes fish and I'm happy to say that my beloved walleye and lake perch are, for the most part, sustainable and healthy.

The National Resources Defense Council directs people to Monterey Bay's list, and notes that smaller fish are usually "cleaner" than the larger ones. Good thing I like sardines and smelt!

Annie
foodonastump
9 years ago
"Poor people have no choice but to eat dirty fish. Not everyone one can afford wild caught seafood."

They can't opt to not eat fish? Many people who aren't poor choose not to. It may be regional, but around here even cheap fish is typically more expensive than chicken. The question becomes, are the cheap fish healthier than the cheaper chicken?

"FOAS, try the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch at http://www.seafoodwatch.org/";

Thanks Annie, that's always my first stop. But case in point - they list North America Tilapia as a best choice, Chinese and Taiwanese as a good alternative. Yet Momj's link would have me prefer bacon!
annie1992
9 years ago
FOAS, I don't agree with everything on their list, but I can't find anything better. I tried Natural Resources Defense Council and a couple of government sites and always got referred right back to Monterey Bay. They are trying to be "all things to all people", in a way, as they aren't necessarily just listing healthy choices, they must also be sustainable and meet environmental criteria, etc.

So, like all other information available on the internet, I guess you take away what you want or find useful and take some percentage of it with a grain of salt.

Something's gonna kill all of us anyway, I would prefer to have my poison in the flavor of lake perch, I guess.

And I agree with you, poor people could choose to not eat fish, or they could eat fish like sardines or other canned choices and avoid much of the nastiness. I no longer consider myself a "poor" person, although I have been nearly destitute a couple of times in my life, and I still choose not to eat lobster or scallops or shrimp as often as I would like because of the cost. Plus, a can of sardines is cheaper than a McDouble and far healthier but I know a lot of people who justify the drive-though as "all they can afford" and wouldn't eat a sardine if it were free.

Annie
carolb_w_fl_coastal_9b
9 years ago
FWIW, around here people lower on the income ladder catch fish (& crabs& clams) to put food on the table - & it is often in dirty water like roadside lakes & inlets.

Funny, I see no attribution for the assertions made @ that Twitter page. Thinking I need to reserve judgement do some research of my own...?
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
9 years ago
"-----Dr. Floyd Chilton, the professor of physiology and pharmacology who directed the Wake Forest study, says the comparison of tilapia to pork bacon was taken out of context.

“We never intended to paint tilapia as the cause of anything bad. Our goal was to provide consumers with more information about their fish,” Chilton said. “If your doctor or cardiologist is telling you to eat more fish, then you should look for varieties that have higher levels of omega-3 and avoid those with high inflammatory potential.”

The truth is, tilapia has as much omega-3 as other popular seafood, including lobster, mahi-mahi and yellowfin tuna. Tilapia is also very low in fat. A 4-ounce serving of tilapia has about 1 gram of saturated fat, 29 grams of protein and around 200 mg of omega-3. By comparison, a 1-ounce serving of bacon (about 4 strips) contains 4 grams of saturated fat, 10 grams of protein and 52 mg of omega-3.

So people may not want to eat tilapia every day, but that doesn’t mean it has to be avoided altogether, nutritionists say.---"

dcarch
barb_roselover_in
9 years ago
I have had the fish questions also and have tried to find some that I feel are healthy. I made up my mind a long time ago that the farm fish are definitely a no-no for me.If eating out, I try to get grilled and if I have to get fish that are deep fried, I peel it all off and eat just the innermost. I am well aware that some of your grease has been absorbed with the inside, but it is the lesser of two evils. I love walleye, but we just don't have it available here. I just simply cannot imagine myself opening a can of sardines. I think I would end up gagging. I remember seeing my BIL swallow those slimy oysters. I shudder.Barb
ritaweeda
9 years ago
I'm with dcarch, most people can't afford the finest wild-caught fish. IMO unless you are an organic farmer or fisherman who has access to pristine waters, you have to be financially well-off to eat well. I see the organic foods sections in the grocery and the wild-caught seafood and I just shake my head at the prices. I just feel blessed that I don't have to buy my "fresh" foods at Walmart yet but the way the economy is going I might some day have to. Don't get me wrong, if you can afford the best buy it and I don't have a problem with people who can afford it, but this is a planet with billions of people who still have to eat and get it the cheapest way they can. The gigantic production farms and fisheries wouldn't be able to supply the unwashed masses with the amount of food they do as cheaply if they all went to the "clean" processes that the elites demand.
laceyvail 6A, WV
9 years ago
I eat sardines, pickled herring and canned wild caught Alaskan salmon. I eat it for the Omega 3s and at least the first two are quite low in mercury, dioxins and other poisons. I never eat farmed fish and never, ever, eat the farmed shrimp people bring to parties.
fawnridge (Ricky)
9 years ago
What is "FOAS"?
prairie_rose
9 years ago
Fawnridge,
FOAS is the abbreviation for Foodonastumps moniker.
Elmer J Fudd
9 years ago
Most ocean fisheries (the wild regional populations) are well managed by governments and international organizations who monitor population levels and enforce catch limits. There are a few exceptions. The presence or absence of fish farming wouldn't affect that a stitch.

Canned Alaskan salmon is a great product. It's sustainably wild caught, devoid of chemical contamination, and full of healthful things. And, it's pretty inexpensive.

If you buy fish regularly from reputable sources, you know what you're getting. I live on the coast where fresh fish is plentiful and buyers and sellers know what they're dealing with. If I lived inland, unless in a large city, I wouldn't consider buying ocean fish except from very carefully scrutinized sellers.

I find tilapia gross - it's tasteless and lacking in character. Same for catfish. Everyone has their own taste.
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
9 years ago
"---I find tilapia gross - it's tasteless and lacking in character.--Everyone has their own taste."

Everyone has their own taste is very true. Tilapia is a very popular fish.

dcarch
Elmer J Fudd
9 years ago
Sure it is. Just as Bud Light is a very popular beer and lots of people eat Wonder Bread. Similar characteristics for all - popular and nearly tasteless.
John Liu
9 years ago
If you want a fish with lots of omega 3, lots of flavor (maybe too much for some tastes?), and that is pretty cheap, try mackerel. Sort of the same idea as sardines and herring, but a mackerel is big enough to do stuff with - filleting a sardine is just silly unless you are cooking in an Easy Bake oven.
foodonastump
9 years ago
LOL John, a few years back I was on a brief Korean kick, specifically, following recipes from maangchi.com. I picked up a couple whole, frozen mackerel and a member here emailed me and warned that it would be "strong." That scared me just a bit, but then she followed up with, "Cats love that sh**," and after that I just couldn't get myself to do anything more inspired than throw them out. I think I'll need to order it at a restaurant and hopefully enjoy it before I can hope to move past that.
dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
9 years ago
Had raw mackerel last night. It was good.

Had raw tilapia also, was good too.

dcarch
annie1992
9 years ago
John, when I was a child, Grandma wouldn't buy canned salmon, it was too expensive, she always bought canned mackerel. We only had canned salmon if someone caught salmon and Grandma canned it herself. We didn't have tuna sandwiches either, she used mackerel for that too! I've never had fresh mackerel, and have never seen it around here.
monika2024
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
MomJ- although I rarely eat meat (organic free range chicken), I doubt that any animal meat is much better for you than GMO soy/corn fed fish. After all, animal feed is the same feed (gmo soy/corn) on top of that, they are pumped full of hormones and chemicals, and don't get me started on the fact that many factory "farms" recycle dead animals as feed for the live stock(i.e: diseased piglets being fed to the adults.) and are abused by the workers.

Seems only safe way to go is organic veggies and fruit. Everything else is either poisoned, over processed, or made up of frankenfoods.
Solsthumper
9 years ago
One more reason to love bacon.

And I say to myself, what a wonderful world...
Bumblebeez SC Zone 7
9 years ago
Pass me a slice, sol.
User
Original Author
9 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Our meat (chicken, beef, ham, etc) comes from a nearby farm. We know how the animals are raised, what they eat, how they are killed.

We eat fish only a few times a year, usually at a fancy seafood restaurant that notes their fish is fresh and wild-caught. We can't be sure though, since testing so often shows much "fresh wild-caught" fish is neither. It's not even the fish it's supposed to be.

Delicious roasted white fish wrapped in smoked bacon with lemon mayonnaise & asparagus

The "best" of both worlds?

Tilapia is worse than bacon

grainlady_ks

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Tilapia is worse than bacon

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