Seafood from Open Gulf Waters is Safe to Eat

With the ongoing reopening of Gulf fisheries, fishermen are going back to work and Americans can confidently and safely enjoy Gulf seafood again.

President Barack Obama eats boiled seafood with residents at Carmandelle's Live Bait and Boiled Seafood in Grand Isle, Louisianna, June 4, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Consumers need to know that seafood from the Gulf of Mexico is safe and fishermen need to be able to sell their products with confidence. That’s why there’s a comprehensive, coordinated, and multi-agency program to ensure the safety of Gulf Coast seafood. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are working with other Federal agencies and state officials to closely monitor the situation and its potential impact on the safety of seafood.

Seafood from open waters is safe to eat. Here are the facts:

1. Every seafood sample from reopened waters has passed testing.
2. When waters were impacted by oil or at risk of being impacted by oil, they were closed to fisherman.
3. Areas considered for reopening must be free of oil before testing even starts.
4. Dispersants were not applied in areas that are opened for fishing, and tests of reopened waters do not show the presence of any dispersants.
5. FDA and NOAA test samples for oil and dispersants, and every sample from reopened waters has passed those tests.

Here are more resources to get the latest information on seafood safety:

From FDA.gov:

• FDA's Role In Seafood Safety
• Key Questions and Answers
• Seafood Safety and Dispersants Fact Sheet
• Reopening of Closed Waters Information by State

From NOAA.gov:

• NOAA’s Role in Seafood Safety
• NOAA, FDA, and Gulf Coast State Officials Affirm Commitment to Ensuring Safety of Gulf Coast Seafood
• Assessing Gulf Coast Seafood
• About the Seafood Inspection Program
• About Sensory Analysis
• Video: Seafood Sampling in Response to the BP Oil Spill

More Information on Federal Fisheries

• Current Federal Fishery Closure Map
• Summary of the Reopening Protocol for Federal Fisheries
• Full Reopening Protocol for Federal Fisheries

We will continue to update this blog post with the latest on Gulf seafood safety, so check back.