British food staple is 'colossal risk to public health'
Updated: 10:49 GMT, 31 October 2024
Toxic metals could be lurking in cans of tinned tuna sold in the UK, an alarming investigation has revealed.
Tests on almost 150 tins purchased in France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Britain, found all 'were contaminated with mercury'.
Exposure to the metal can impair brain development, trigger life-threatening lung damage and has been linked to some cancers.
Researchers claimed the probe showed the product was 'a colossal risk to public health' and urged Governments to take 'urgent' action.
Karine Jacquemart, CEO of consumer rights organisation Foodwatch France — one of the two groups behind the report, said: 'What we end up with on our dinner plates is a colossal risk to public health that's not considered seriously.
'We won't give up until we have a more protective European standard.'
Under current EU and UK law, the limit for mercury in tuna is 1 mg/kg and 0.3 mg/kg for other fish such as cod.
Foodwatch and Paris-based NGO Bloom, found that all 148 tins tested contained mercury — some 57 per cent of which exceeded the 0.3 mg/kg mercury limit.
One tin bought in a Paris Carrefour City store had a record level of 3.9 mg/kg, the report said — 13 times the 0.3 mg/kg limit.
Bloom and Foodwatch urged the European nations to 'activate a safeguard clause' to prevent the sale and promotion of products exceeding 0.3mg/kg.
They also called on governments to remove 'all products' with tuna from school canteens, nurseries, maternity wards, hospitals and care homes.