The Fire Retardant Hiding in Your Favorite Seafood
For decades, a chemical called ethoxyquin has been added to fishmeal to prevent dangerous ship fires. This solution, though effective in preventing combustion, has introduced a new problem into our food chain. Originally used in rubber and fruit preservation, ethoxyquin is now raising alarms due to its potential health risks, including links to carcinogenicity. With over half of the world's seafood coming from farms reliant on fishmeal, understanding what's in our food supply has become critical for consumer safety and environmental health.
In the mid-20th century, fishmeal, a key ingredient in animal feed, caused numerous ship and plant fires due to its tendency to spontaneously combust. To combat this serious danger, American feed producer Cargill introduced ethoxyquin in 1967. This chemical, previously used as a fire retardant for rubber tires and a preservative for fruits, proved highly effective. By the 1970s, reported ship fires involving fishmeal dropped dramatically, leading to mandatory and recommended use of ethoxyquin in global fishmeal shipments.
However, there was a significant catch: ethoxyquin is a suspected carcinogen. Studies from as early as 1969 noted its "toxic effects" in laboratory animals, with later research in 1987 highlighting its potential "carcinogenic effect" in rats. An impurity within ethoxyquin, p-phenetidine, was also identified in 2015 as capable of causing genetic mutations. This growing body of evidence led the European Commission to suspend its use in animal feed across the EU in 2017, and it is now banned in the U.K. and several European Economic Area countries.
Despite these bans, ethoxyquin is still permitted within limits in animal feed in countries like Australia, Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. This is a major concern as more than half of the seafood consumed globally now comes from fish farms, with most species fed fishmeal. Lawsuits have targeted seafood companies for labeling products as "sustainable" while containing ethoxyquin, citing both potential risks to aquatic life and human health. While some producers, like Cargill, are moving away from ethoxyquin, regulatory oversight remains inconsistent, as seen in Canada where the Food Inspection Agency's testing for the chemical in seafood has been criticized.
The industry is increasingly shifting to alternative antioxidants, with butylated hydroxyanisole, or BHA, becoming the most popular. Yet, this replacement chemical carries its own significant health warnings. The U.S. National Toxicology Program identified BHA as "reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen" in 1991, and Japanese research linked it to malignant tumors in rats by 2008. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently announced it is reassessing BHA's safety as a food additive. This situation highlights a challenging cycle for the aquaculture industry: moving from one potentially harmful solution to another in the quest for safe food production. Ensuring truly sustainable and safe seafood for the future demands a careful re-evaluation of all additives in our food chain.