Foodie health hazard: seafood from 3 CA counties

CDPH has warnings out for certain mussels, clams and other seafood from three counties (Dru Kelly, CC BY ND 2.0)

The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) has declared a warning for certain types of seafood caught in three California counties: Monterey, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara.

The warning is due to high levels of domoic acid, a naturally occurring chemical within shellfish, sardines and anchovies. Domoic acid is deathly poisonous to mammals – and that means us, humans! It just so happens that there has been a outbreak of the chemical in certain seafood from those three counties.

Here’s the deal:

DO NOT EAT recreationally harvested mussels or clams from those counties
DO NOT EAT commercially or recreationally harvested anchovy, sardines or crabs from those counties
YOU CAN EAT commercially caught clams, mussels, scallops or oysters from state-certified harvesters or dealers

So far, no one has reported having poisoning from domoic acid. We’re not sure how long this warning will last, but, CDPH will update us accordingly.