Ocean activists demand canned goods tuna be banned from hospitalsschool canteens, retirement homes and maternity wards after high concentrations of mercury were found in each sample analyzed.

They accused the government and the tuna industry of “cynical lobbying,” favoring “the economic interests of industrial tuna fishing at the expense of the health of more than hundreds of millions of tuna consumers in the country.” Europe“.

This means that for 50 years, a mercury threshold three times higher for tuna than for other fish species such as cod was deemed “acceptable”, “without there being the slightest health justification for a different threshold.

The French non-profit organization Bloom, which aims to protect marine environments, and the consumer rights organization Foodwatch analyzed 148 cans of tuna from five European countries: the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, France and Italy.

They found that all products contained mercury and 57 percent exceeded the limit for fish of 0.3 mg per kg.

The findings, which they called a “health scandal of unprecedented scale,” prompted Foodwatch to warn of a “colossal risk to public health.”

Exposure to small amounts of mercury can cause serious health problems and threaten the development of unborn babies and children, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), which considers it a major public health problem. , just like asbestos and arsenic.

Mercury can have toxic effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, as well as the lungs, kidneys, skin and eyes, according to the WHO.

Methylmercury, which is what forms after mercury interacts with bacteria and is the most common form in foods, is classified as potentially causing cancer.

Bloom said: “European public authorities have chosen an approach completely at odds with their duty to protect public health: they are using the actual mercury contamination of tuna to establish a threshold guaranteeing that 95 percent can be sold. This is why tuna, one of the most contaminated species, has a maximum mercury tolerance three times higher than that of the least contaminated species.

Tuna accumulates more mercury over time because it is higher in the food chain and frequently eats smaller fish.

But the canning process means the concentration of mercury is doubled or tripled, according to Bloom.

In Seychelles, where tuna is fished for Europe, authorities only have to carry out around ten tests per year. “Once landed in France for example, to our knowledge, less than 50 fresh tuna are sampled each year by the public authorities, and no canned fish is tested. »

Karine Jacquemart, general director of Foodwatch France, said: “What we end up on our plates is a colossal risk to public health that is not taken seriously. »

Bloom and Foodwatch are calling for a stricter limit of mercury in tuna, as for other species, of 0.3 mg/kg instead of the current 1 mg/kg.

They are also putting pressure on Europe’s largest supermarkets to remove products above the threshold from their shelves; a cessation of all advertising for tuna products and clear labeling warning of health risks.

And they say tuna products must be banned from hospitals, schools and care homes to protect vulnerable people.

Mark Willis, head of chemical contaminants at the UK’s Food Standards Agency, said: “We advise those who are trying for a baby or are pregnant to eat no more than four cans of tuna a week or not more than two tuna steaks per week. . In fact, tuna contains higher levels of mercury than other fish.

The European Commission declared Euronews Health the “maximum levels of mercury in foods are established based on the data we have on the actual and actual presence of mercury in foods.”

“We do this by monitoring the products that are placed on the market, taking into account the principle of ‘as low as reasonably practicable’ when producers use good practices,” officials added.

The commission said the maximum level could not be reduced below 1 ppm “without significantly disrupting the food supply.”

“When consuming large quantities of the most polluted fish with the highest maximum levels, the tolerable weekly intake may be exceeded,” he adds.

A spokesperson for Europêche, which represents fishing fleets, denied the report’s claims, saying The Independent: “Among the misleading information, the legal threshold communicated is not the one used in practice. Additionally, the declared levels were based on dried tuna, not raw tuna meat, resulting in a distortion of at least a factor of 3.5.

“Scientific studies published in February 2024 by French scientists and Environmental Sciences and Technologies show that mercury levels in tuna have remained unchanged for more than 50 years.

“Canned tuna products offered to EU consumers strictly comply with European regulations, which are based on scientific criteria for safe maximum daily intakes. These thresholds are carefully set by experts from the European Food Safety Authority to ensure consumer safety.

They added that selenium neutralizes the potential toxicity of mercury.

The Federation of Canned Food Industries, which represents the French processing industry, said that eating canned tuna was not dangerous and that “the products offered to consumers scrupulously respect French and European regulations.” He specifies that tuna “is part of the recommendations for fish consumption as part of a balanced diet”.