CANNED tuna has been given a clean bill of health on mercury content in new findings by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the US government's food safety agency.

Tests confirm that canned tuna contains very low mercury levels that are considerably less than the federal government allows, the United States Tuna Foundation (USTF) has announced.

"FDA's latest findings about mercury levels in canned tuna should end the debate over whether canned tuna is a safe and healthy food for all Americans, " says David Burney, USTF's executive director.

"No one is at risk from the minute amounts of mercury in any form of canned tuna."

According to FDA's latest testing data for mercury levels in commercially sold fish and shellfish, the average amount of mercury in light canned tuna remains at 0.12 parts per million (ppm).

This is eight times lower than the 1.00-ppm limit for commercial fish set by FDA. Updated in January, FDA's test results cover monitoring of commercial fish from 1990 to 2004.

"FDA's latest data also show that the average amount of mercury in canned albacore tuna remains at 0.35 ppm, which puts canned albacore tuna in the same category as many other commonly eaten fish, such as lobster (0.31 ppm), Chilean sea bass (0.38 ppm) and bluefish (0.34 ppm), " says David Burney.

"This finding supports the recommendation in the government's seafood advisory that pregnant and nursing women - women who might become pregnant and very young children - can safely eat up to 6 oz. a week of canned albacore tuna."

The advisory, issued by FDA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is intended only for these special groups and not for men, women who do not plan to become pregnant or are past childbearing age, school-aged children and adolescents.

USTF used the updated FDA test data to refute articles in the Chicago Tribune about mercury levels in seafood. According to FDA's findings, only four species of fish are classified as having high mercury levels: tilefish (1.45 ppm), shark (0.99 ppm), swordfish (0.98 ppm) and king mackerel (0.730 ppm).

FDA's new findings also confirm that, when yellowfin is used in light canned tuna, the amount of mercury is very low.

Agency tests showed the amount of mercury was 0.18 ppm, consistent with the average for canned light tuna of 0.12 ppm.

Using this data, USTF made clear that the yellowfin in canned tuna should not be confused with the way in which most yellowfin is sold in the US and worldwide: as fresh and frozen cuts used as tuna steaks and sushi.

According to FDA tests on fresh and frozen yellowfin in 2002 to 2004, the average mercury level was 0.32 ppm. However, as yellowfin is an expensive fish and consumed infrequently by most Americans, the higher mercury levels are not a public health concern.

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Mercury: no risks from canned tuna