Posted on 07/20/2008 11:05:47 AM PDT by Daffynition
State health officials are urging lobster eaters to avoid the greenish innards known as the tomalley because of risks of shellfish poisoning.
Health officials for years have advised against eating the tomalley, the lobster liver some regard as a delicacy. The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention reiterated its advisory Friday, however, after some lobster livers tested positive for high levels of toxins caused by large blooms of red tide algae.
But health and fisheries officials stress that the advisory applies only to the lobster tomalley, not to the meat.
"Lobster meat is very safe to eat," said Dr. Dora Ann Mills, director of the Maine CDC.
"We ran some tests on meat to make sure, just in case people ask, ‘How do you know?’ and the meat was perfectly clean," said Darcie Couture, who heads the state Department of Marine Resources’ biotoxin monitoring program.
Harvesting of mussels, clams and other shellfish has been prohibited along some areas of the Maine coast in recent weeks because of dangerous levels of the naturally occurring algae. Eating shellfish contaminated by red tide can cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, an illness that can result in death.
Maine’s DMR has an extensive monitoring program to ensure that all Maine shellfish sold on the commercial market by certified dealers comes from areas deemed safe for harvesting.
Three people recently fell ill after eating shellfish they collected in an area that DMR had closed because of red tide. Mills said those cases underscore the importance of buying shellfish from a certified dealer or carefully heeding the state’s closures when collecting shellfish.
This is the first time potentially toxic levels of red tide have been detected in lobster livers, however. Red tide toxins were found in lobster tomalley during the last widespread bloom in 2005 but did not reach toxic levels.
The Maine Bureau of Health first issued an advisory against eating tomalley in 1994, and the federal Food and Drug Administration eventually followed suit. Because the liver filters out contaminants in the water, lobster tomalley may contain unsafe levels of industrial toxins, such as PCBs and dioxin.
That would explain why the tomalley would contain higher levels of the toxins produced by the red tide algae. But Couture said it remains unclear why some lobster tomalleys have higher levels than others.
Couture said not all of the lobster tomalleys from the six sampling areas tested in recent days had toxic levels. She speculated that some lobsters might have been feeding in deep shellfish beds where red tide levels are higher.
DMR is expanding its monitoring and hopes to develop a better understanding of what is happening. Canadian authorities also have issued an advisory on eating tomalleys because of red tide, and New Hampshire officials have reported high levels in lobster tomalleys there.
"It’s a little bit of a mystery to us, but we are working on it," Couture said.
Maine CDC’s reminder about the risks of eating tomalley comes at the height of Maine’s tourist season when seemingly every restaurant in the state serves up some variation of the iconic shellfish.
Patrice McCarron, executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, said it should be "business as usual" since there already has been an advisory against tomalley eating in place for years. Asked whether she worries that some lobster eaters could be scared away by the renewed emphasis on tomalleys, McCarron said she hopes people will be well-informed.
"The public has always been advised to enjoy the lobster meat but don’t eat the tomalleys," McCarron said.
Meanwhile, there are signs that the red tide bloom, which has gripped much of Down East Maine, may be abating. Although far from guaranteed, that would be welcome news to shellfish harvesters and processors Down East struggling with the large-scale closures.
Couture said she hopes that levels of the toxins in shellfish Down East have crested and will begin to fall. She cautioned, however, that there is still a large amount of red tide in Canadian waters that could affect Maine.
And toxicity scores Down East remain so high that it likely will take some time to reach safe levels.
"It’s moving in the right direction, … but it will probably be a few weeks," Couture said.
I’ve had a rule against greenish innards for most all of my life.
Thought I’d like crawfish, but suckin’ the head just didn’t quite go along with my principles.
I remember that Hostess used to have a bakery item they called Snowballs. The frosting was white. Some genius in marketing apparently was convinced that if the frosting was colored yellow, that the new product would be a great success. Apparently, this person was from the southern part of the country, and was not familiar with the idea of, "don't eat the yellow snow."
I would think “don’t eat that stuff” would be a no-brainer. Gross.
Whew! I was worried there for a second- I know a guy named Tom O’Malley
In the immortal words of Tom Horn, the cowboy enforcer, “I ain’t never et a bug that big before!” Ew. Lobster. Giant cockroach.
The same guy said about Sushi; “The Japs call if food,.... we call it bait!”
The green stuff was my favorite part when I was a kid.
I also liked raw sea urchins, too.
I never eat sea insects so I’m safe I guess.
You know I love all Sushi but I wouldn’t feed a Democrat a sea urchin, thats just plain nasty.........
Unfortunately, Portuguese restaurants seem to have a habit of mixing the Tomalley with bread crumbs. How do I tell Joao and Carlos to change their recipe just for me?
Eating a lobster is a pretty barbaric experience ...not too many things that I eat get torn from limb to limb with such pleasure!
I’ve not had that many crawfish ... you’d need 1K of them to equal a good-sized lobster. ;)
Whew! I was worried there for a second- I know a guy named Tom O’Malley
***Similar thoughts here, my last name is O’Malley. Paging some other O’Malleys for this possibly humorous play on the name.
LOL
http://www.sushifaq.com/sushi-items/sushi-items-uni.htm
(That’s just the gonads—probably the best tasting part to the uninitiated.)
Sure, it’s Irish-Mexican food.
That icky green stuff serves as the liver and pancreas of the critter ... I’ve never developed a taste for it, although many consider it as delicacy. It really doesn’t taste that good anyway .. and it does look awful.
So when you think about all the toxins getting filtered and trapped in that stuff ... fugetaboutit! ;)
I won’t argue that raw sea urchin is an acquired taste.
You can also scramble and fry the innards like eggs, if you like them cooked (this gives urchins their other name, “sea eggs”).
You should avoid eating his innards, just to be on the safe side.
You should try soft shelled crabs.
My mother used to fry them up for sandwhiches.
Whole fried crab--shell and all--between two slices of bread. Yummy!
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