Senator presses tuna industry to address mercury concerns.

Byline: Sam Roe

CHICAGO _ U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., is calling on America's tuna industry to take steps to protect consumers from high mercury levels in some cans of tuna.

"The industry has to step up and restore confidence in their product," he said in an interview. "That means being honest with consumers about what is in the cans."

In a letter Thursday to America's leading tuna producers, Durbin questioned the industry's practice of using a high-mercury tuna species, yellowfin, to make millions of cans of light tuna, one of America's best-selling seafoods and a product the government has recommended as a low-mercury choice.

Citing a recent Chicago Tribune series about mercury in tuna, Durbin wrote that consumers "might be unknowingly ingesting unsafe quantities of mercury even if they are following the Food and Drug Administration's seafood consumption guidelines."

Durbin, the Senate's assistant minority leader, asked the industry to provide him with information about how often yellowfin is used in canned tuna.

The U.S. Tuna Foundation, a lobbying group for tuna producers StarKist, Bumble Bee and Chicken of the Sea, said it was reviewing Durbin's letter. The industry has maintained that its customers are not at risk.

The Tribune series revealed the industry uses yellowfin to make about 15 percent of the 1.2 billion cans of light tuna sold annually. Many of these yellowfin cans are marketed as gourmet light tuna, though most cans do not indicate that yellowfin is inside.

Durbin said the industry should clearly label its yellowfin cans. "When we reach a point that gourmet means more dangerous, then something is wrong with the categories of tuna," he said.

After the Tribune series, the FDA said it would investigate light tuna. Durbin said the FDA needs to improve testing of other fish as well. "I'm going to talk to my colleagues on the Senate Appropriations Committee and make sure when the FDA budget comes before us that we take a look at this element of food safety," said Durbin, who sits on the panel.

___

(c) 2006, Chicago Tribune.

Visit the Chicago Tribune on the Internet at http://www.chicagotribune.com/

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.

_____

ARCHIVE PHOTOS on KRT Direct (from KRT Photo Service, 202-383-6099): Durbin

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.