aquaculture
September 5, 2008
Get Published & Win $250 in Our Get Cookin' Recipe Contest
Join us in our campaign to protect consumers and the environment by sending us a copy of your favorite (and delicious) sustainable seafood recipe. If your entry is selected, your recipe will be published and the grand prize winner will receive $250. In addition, Food & Water Watch aprons will be awarded for every winning recipe submission that is chosen and published.
olive oil
parsley
potatoes
a little garlic
lemon juice
pepper
These are some of the ingredients contestants are adding to showcase seafood in scrumptious sounding dishes submitted to our Get Cookin' Sustainable Seafood Recipe Contest.
We've got $250 to give away for the recipe that tickles us and our taste buds the most. All the top entries win a Food & Water Watch Chef's apron and have their recipes published in our Get Cookin' Sustainable Seafood Recipe Booklet.
Who are the lucky judges? In addition to Food & Water Watch staff, locally renowned chef Rocky Barnette will be evaluating the finalists' submissions based on the following criteria:
- Taste
- Uniqueness
- Healthiness
- Simplicity
Bonus points are given for using sustainable/local ingredients.
We don't know who the finalists will be but the wonderful recipes already received tell us our Get Cookin' Sustainable Seafood Recipe Booklet is sure to be a winner. Get Cookin' and send us your recipe. Submissions are accepted until noon on October 6, 2008.
July 18, 2008
Testosterone for Your Tilapia
Many tilapia are fed methyl testosterone to convert them all to males, which grow to a bigger size with less feed. Proponents argue that this practice results in less waste, thereby benefiting the environment. But consumers don't want fish that have undergone hormone-induced sex changes, and we don't yet know enough about the long-term environmental and health consequences.
The food industry is wild about developing innovative ways to maximize the efficiency of producing food from animals. 
Cows are injected with hormones and antibiotics and are pumped full of food that they are not naturally adapted to digest in order to speed up their growth. Similarly, as recently reported in a Washington Post blog, many tilapia are given a dose of methyl testosterone to convert them all to males, which grow to a bigger size and require less feed because they don’t need to expend as much energy developing reproductive organs. Proponents argue that the practice reduces waste, thereby benefiting the environment.
It seems, however, that many people, myself included, don’t want food that has been altered with substances that change its basic biology. But, one may argue, if we can increase production with technology, it would be a shame not to. The problem with this reasoning is that new technologies often bring unexpected consequences. We don’t know enough about the effects of testosterone on the fish or the environment to conclusively determine if it is good or bad. This would not be the first time that a new food industry practice is later found to create major environmental and health problems. I probably don’t need to remind you all of how using pulverized parts of cows in animal feed, which was intended to bulk up the animals with protein, led to cases of mad cow disease.
Most consumers don’t want food produced with added hormones. And while it may seem like an environmentally friendly practice now, we don’t know the long-term consequences. Given the many unknowns regarding methyl testosterone, the tilapia industry should not be so quick to embrace its use simply as a means to increase production.
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