NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

The Institute of Medicine was chartered in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to enlist distinguished members of the appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. In this, the Institute acts under both the Academy’s 1863 congressional charter responsibility to be an adviser to the federal government and its own initiative in identifying issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Samuel O. Thier is president of the Institute of Medicine.

This study was supported by contract no. 50-WCNF-8-060636 from the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Seafood safety / Committee on Evaluation of the Safety of Fishery Products, Food and Nutrition Board, Institute of Medicine, National Academy of Sciences : Farid E. Ahmed, editor.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Seafood--Health aspects. 2. Seafood--Safety measures. 3. Seafood--Contamination. I. Ahmed, Farid E. II. Institute of Medicine (U.S.). Committee on Evaluation of the Safety of Fishery Products.

RA602.F5S43 1991

363.19'29--dc20 90-25996

No part of this book may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process, or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted, or otherwise copied for public or private use, without written permission from the publisher, except for the purposes of official use by the U.S. Government.

The serpent has been a symbol of long life, healing, and knowledge among almost all cultures and religions since the beginning of recorded history. The image adopted as a logotype by the Institute of Medicine is based on a relief carving from ancient Greece, now held by the Staatlichemuseen in Berlin.