Why Should Making Healthy Choices Be so Difficult?

Choosing seafood for your kids and family should be simple, especially if your kids tend to prefer a particular seafood such as shrimp. However, getting children to eat a well-rounded diet that includes foods that are good for them is challenging. Shrimp has been one of those foods that helps parents meet this challenge and it’s available in most grocery stores—frozen or fresh—and many restaurants have it on their menus.

But buying shrimp can be complicated if parents are trying to make food choices that are both healthy for their children and sustainable for the future generations.

Unfortunately, no clear guidelines exist for making the best choice when trying to buy healthy and environmentally responsible shrimp products. This is why some families become exasperated and put their trust in retailers, hoping they have made a prudent choice in their seafood selections. But many retailers are not aware of all of the health and ecological issues associated with shrimp and therefore don’t make their shrimp selections based on them.

Where Does Your Shrimp Come From

Farmed
About 43 percent of global shrimp production is farmed, the majority of which comes from developing countries in Asia and South America. Farming shrimp can involve the use of drugs, such as antibiotics, as well as other chemicals, such as fertilizers, pesticides and preservatives.

In some regions, the farms are already situated in polluted waters. Shrimp farming can also have environmental impacts such as pollution and destruction of key habitats along coasts such as coral reefs and mangroves, although the practice of clearing mangroves for shrimp ponds has decreased in many parts of the world.

Shrimp and freshwater prawns are also farmed in the United States, with more regulatory oversight than most other nations. In the United States and elsewhere, experimental farms are developing methods that have fewer impacts on the environment.

Wild Caught
Buying wild-caught shrimp is not the easy answer because it also has its downsides. Trawling, the most common fishing method used to catch shrimp, destroys more than 1.8 million tons of marine life each year, including sea turtles and favorite recreational fish species.    For example, NOAA’s FishWatch reports that shrimp caught by trawling in the Gulf of Mexico can make up as little as 16 percent of the catch. Trawling also destroys coral reefs and other ocean floor habitats as heavy nets are dragged along the sea floor. More ecologically friendly methods of catching shrimp are available, including the use of pots and traps (wire or wooden cages) that lie on the ocean floor and are tied to a buoy on the surface. While these methods also have some negative environmental consequences, they are minimal in contrast to trawling.

Additionally, wild-caught shrimp are not worry- free when it comes to your child’s health because wild-caught shrimp are sometimes treated with preservatives just like farmed shrimp. Furthermore, no part of the ocean is free from contaminants so wild-caught shrimp are also exposed to pollutants in the ocean. Fortunately, most shrimp do not live long enough to accumulate high concentrations of pollutants such as mercury and PCBs.

Using Labels to Make Choices

Country of Origin
Currently, Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) is your best source of information about where shrimp originated and how it was produced. Since April 2005, seafood sold in stores and markets in the United States has had to be identified with COOL. This law also requires seafood to be labeled as to whether it was wild caught or farmed. However, seafood sold in restaurants or deli counters does not need to be labeled as such on the menu, so asking is always a good idea. Additionally, substantially processed seafood, particularly that which is used in pre-prepared meals, does not need to be labeled, so avoid unlabeled seafood in processed foods to make sure you are making a healthy and sustainable selection for your child.

Organic
Currently, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is in the process of developing organic standards for farmed seafood. Once standards are approved, the USDA organic label should identify shrimp that have been raised and processed using methods that do not involve drugs or chemicals. The organic standards will only apply to farm-raised seafood and not wild-caught seafood because of the need to control inputs like food. While no USDA standard for organic shrimp is available yet, it could soon be established. Until then, choose shrimp that are labeled as being grown and processed without chemical additives.

Ecologically Certified
In terms of eco-certification, the Canadian fisheries for Northern shrimp and the U.S. Pacific Coast pink shrimp (both sold as cocktail shrimp) have been certified as sustainably managed by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). These shrimp are among our KidSafe Seafood Best Choices (www. kidsafeseafood.org/bestchoices.php). Additionally, several other shrimp fisheries are in the process of becoming certified.

However, many standards for both wild and farmed fish don’t have global recognition or aren’t being marketed directly to the consumer. One set of standards that aim to have global recognition is being developed through The World Wildlife Fund-sponsored aquaculture dialogues. The dialogues include multiple participants from industry, conservation organizations, academia and government with the goal of designing meaningful and practical standards for farming seafood. The standards for shrimp should be finalized sometime in 2011. The Aquaculture Stewardship Council, an independent third party, will administer these standards.

Until then, eco-certified farmed shrimp is not being marketed to consumers with an identifiable label, but usually the retailer knows if it has been certified by some party, so ask before making your selection. Additionally, some retailers and restaurant chains are working with conservation organizations to develop buying standards and identify responsible shrimp farmers.

Healthy and Sustainable Selections of Both Farmed and Wild-Caught

1.    Check for Marine Stewardship Council certification for wild shrimp
2.    Until USDA organic standards are approved and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council begins certifying farmed shrimp, the following are the shrimp that are caught or raised most sustainably.
3.    Remember to check for the country of origin.

Best Choices

• Spot prawns from British Columbia or Canada (prawn or spot shrimp)
• Pink shrimp from Oregon (ocean shrimp, salad shrimp or cocktail shrimp)
• Farmed shrimp from the United States (fully recirculating inland systems)

Next Best

• Northern shrimp from U.S. and Canadian Atlantic waters (salad shrimp or cocktail shrimp)
• Spot prawns from the United States
• White, brown and pink shrimp from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and U.S. South Atlantic
• Pacific or West Coast white shrimp from the United States

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