Recent chemical tests have shown no widespread contamination to seafood from dispersants used to break up oil from the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico — and that such food is safe for the public to eat.
Officials from the federal Food and Drug Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Friday that less than 1% of 1,735 seafood tissue samples tested came up positive for any trace chemicals.
Those samples that tested positive contained levels of contaminants well below the safety threshold of 100 parts per million for fish and 500 parts per million for shrimp, crabs and oysters, federal officials said.
"This new test should help strengthen consumer confidence in gulf seafood," FDA Commissioner Margaret A. Hamburg said in a statement. "The overwhelming majority of the seafood tested shows no detectable residue, and not one of the samples shows a residue level that would be harmful for humans. There is no question gulf seafood coming to market is safe from oil or dispersant residue."
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