'Sushi Capital' Japan Isn't Sweating Tuna Scare

Slowly, world's sushi capital seeing more eco-friendly seafood in supermarkets

(NEWSER) - Japan loves its fish: The island nation consumes an average of 147 pounds per person a year, compared to America’s 17. So, Samuel Fromartz wonders in Gourmet, how can Japanese fisheries continue to support supermarket fish counters as large as an entire US meat section? The answer, slowly gaining ground, is sustainable fishing, and retailers’ desire to have an eco-friendly stamp. More»

Japanese chefs resort to deer and even horse meat

(NEWSER) - Plummeting supplies of tuna have become a recipe for disaster in Japan, where sushi lovers eat 60,000 tons of the fish a year. Desperate chefs are experimenting with increasingly bizarre sushi substitutes, including deer and even horse, the New York Times reports. But sushi without tuna in Japan is like American baseball without hotdogs. More»

(NEWSER) - American women are afflicted by high Mercury levels depending on where they live and how much they earn, a new study says. Northeasterners are worst off, with a 20% chance of high mercury, 10 points higher than the national rate. Midwesterners eat less seafood and had lower levels overall, the Chicago Tribune reports. More»

FDA reconsidering warnings on seafood mercury

(NEWSER) - A quarter of tuna sushi sampled in New York contained mercury levels so high that the FDA could take legal action to ban the fish from the market, reports the New York Times. Although the sushi was collected in New York City, experts believe samples elsewhere would be similar. “No one should eat a meal of tuna” more than once about every three weeks, said the professor who analyzed the samples. More»

That breaks down to about $1,238 per pricey pound

(NEWSER) - Japan's first tuna auction of the year generally sees millions of yen tossed around—in 2011, the top bluefin sold for 32.49 million yen, the equivalent of about $423,000. But hold on to your hats, because 2012 makes that look like chump change. A 593-pound fish sold today for a record $736,000 at Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market. That translates to about $1,283 a pound, also a record. More»