Defining organic seafood
Amid rising demand, FDA wrestles with guidelines
On a 900-acre farm tucked in a steamy area of the Everglades known as the ''Devil's Garden," scientists in blue lab coats are hatching millions of organic shrimp.
These crustaceans, grown by OceanBoy Farms in Clewiston, Fla., never actually see the ocean floor. They are bred in dark greenhouses, fed organic pellets, and raised in covered tanks with pure artesian well water.
''We know where our shrimp are coming from and what they are eating," said Stutts Armstrong, vice president of sales for OceanBoy Farms, which is promoting the shrimp at tomorrow's International Boston Seafood Show, the largest exhibit in the country. ''We have complete control and people want to know that."
OceanBoy Farms says meticulously managed fish -- free of all antibiotics and chemicals -- are the next frontier of the fishing industry as Americans grow increasingly concerned about harmful toxins that can build up in seafood and the environmental destruction caused by other fishing methods.
Domestic and international seafood companies say they are eager to cash in on the burgeoning growth of the organic food market in the United States -- which accounted for more than $10.4 billion in consumer sales in 2003. Although organic food only makes up 1.9 percent of total US food sales, its growth far outpaces other sectors with sales jumping 20 percent annually between 1998 and 2003, according to the Organic Trade Association.
''Nobody ever talked about organic seafood in years past," said Mary Larkin, a vice president at Diversified Business Communications in Portland, Maine, which runs the Boston seafood show. ''There's just more focus on food safety, and it's a market that's growing rapidly."
What qualifies as organic seafood, however, is still up for debate. The USDA, which has guidelines for evaluating organic livestock and crops, has no standards for organic seafood.
But last summer, OceanBoy Farms secured USDA approval for its shrimp under organic livestock standards. The approval allows OceanBoy Farms to label its shrimp with a green USDA organic seal, a coveted stamp that certifies the shrimp meet the country's organic standards. The shrimp will be stocked in the coming weeks, under the label Ecofish, at natural food stores in Cambridge, Quincy, and Gloucester.
Joan Shaffer, a USDA spokeswoman, said the agency should not have certified OceanBoy's shrimp as organic and no other seafood will be approved until guidelines are established for fish.
In the meantime, many companies are turning to Europe for organic certification -- a move that has caused consternation among the seafood industry and consumer groups. Some distributors, including Whole Foods, have refused to label any seafood organic until USDA standards are issued for aquatic species.
''The move toward organics is a positive sea change, if you will, but it's a big problem not having guidelines," said Rebecca Goldburg, a senior scientist with Environmental Defense in New York and a former member of the USDA's National Organic Standards Board. ''It's a wild west out there for organic seafood and as a consumer, you don't necessarily know what you're getting."
The delay in developing USDA standards is due in part to the debate in the United States about whether to include wild-caught fish, such as salmon, as organic. Most, if not all, international organic programs only certify aquaculture, which involves the controlled breeding of fish and other aquatic creatures on farms.
But in the United States, there is pressure from fishermen for the USDA to include wild-caught fish in its organic standards.
''It's crazy that it wouldn't be considered organic because it's wild," said Kim Marden, owner of Captain Marden's Seafoods, a seafood market in Wellesley. ''It's completely natural."
Some aquaculture companies promoting their seafood as organic claim they raise the fish in controlled ponds without harm to nearby ecosystems. Unlike traditionally farmed fish, the organic seafood are often free of antibiotics, hormones, and preservatives. They are fed organic diets, eliminating concerns about probable human carcinogens, such as PCBs. These chemicals are found in high concentrations in farmed salmon because of the ground-up fish meal they eat.
At Union Bar and Grille in Boston, sous chef Rebecca Newell calls the organic salmon imported from Scotland the ''Lamborghini of fish" -- unmatched in taste and freshness compared to traditional farm-raised or wild-caught salmon. The organic salmon comes at price of about $1 more per pound.
California importer Emerald Organics said international certification programs require aquaculture farmers to meet the highest of standards.
Michael McNicholas, vice president of Emerald Organics, said the firm tomorrow is unveiling its organic caviar to American consumers. The company claims to boast the world's first and only organic caviar and sturgeon certified by the Andalusian Committee of Ecological Agriculture.
The sturgeon, reared in pools with spring water, are fed low-fat organic diets. The female sturgeon is harvested between 10 and 15 years old and an organic herbal recipe is used to anesthetize the fish so it dies without pain or stress and prevents the release of adrenaline that can alter taste, McNicholas said.
The fish eggs are extracted under the highest hygienic conditions and packed in crystal jars without preservatives that are used for conventional caviar. Two ounces of the caviar retails for $119 -- about 15 to 30 percent more than nonorganic caviar.
The laboratory production of organic seafood doesn't bother people like Whole Foods shopper Chip McLaughlin who worries about the safety of the fish he eats. The Cambridge resident is willing to pay more because he's confident that organic means better.
''Anytime you can control the environment of what you're eating -- whether it's a plant or animal -- is a healthier choice," McLaughlin said. ''It may not be a panacea, but it's a move in the right direction."
Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com. 