Canned Cod Liver and Dioxin page

[carlosesteban]

Hey folks,

i realized a couple of days ago that i have access to canned cod liver. 100% no additives, not pickled in any crappy vegetable oil, just the cod liver canned in its own oil. Since we like liver and fatty fish around here i thought it was a great find. However, some tests have shown that canned seafood products, especially cod liver, contain very high amounts of dioxins. Apparently canned cod liver contains a multiple of the safe amount as recommended by the EU.

After reading a bit more about this topic on the net, cod liver is just an extreme case of a problem with fatty fish in general. There's even a site recommending a vegan diet just for this reason (because there is dioxin in everything from meat, to eggs to dairy). One site that i thought gave a fairly balanced take on the subject is this one:

Food Standards Agency - Oily fish advice: your questions answered

Any thoughts on this?

[otzi]

I've never seen canned cod liver where I live, but I would eat it if I had access. I would include it in my mix of fish I already eat, certainly not just canned cod liver. Maybe 1 or 2 servings a week or month surely would be fine.

I try to eat fish every day, mostly canned sardines or oysters, but also fresh fish when available. If I get stuck eating out, I will always order the fish over all else.

[Paleobird]

I get canned cod liver at my local middle eastern market. That's the only place I've ever seen it. I think a balanced approach makes sense when it comes to seafood. If you ate a pound of cod liver every day for a month it would probably not be good for you. But who does that?