In 2017, the Food and Drug Administration issued new, stricter guidelines about which fish are recommended if you are or could become pregnant. But it’s of particular concern for pregnant people, because the developing brains and nervous systems of their babies are particularly vulnerable to mercury, Rogers says. In high amounts it can even be harmful to adults, causing problems with fine motor coordination, speech, sleep, and walking, and prickly sensations. Too much of it is harmful to children, whose bodies and brains are still growing. So that’s why mercury contamination is such a concern in this particular fish. Canned tuna is the only seafood in some people’s diets. Tuna isn’t the biggest fish in the ocean, of course, but it’s one that is extremely popular and eaten very often by kids and adults of all ages. The more small fish those big fish eat, the more mercury builds up in their bodies. A rule of thumb is that bigger fish tend to have higher mercury levels than smaller ones, because they are higher up in the food chain. It’s both an element found naturally in the environment and a byproduct of manmade pollution. Mercury is found throughout the ocean, and is present to some degree in every kind of fish you could choose to consume.

(Note that the type of tuna in pouches is the same as what’s in cans, but we did not test pouches.) Light and skipjack varieties, for instance, contain much less mercury on average than albacore tuna. We found a wide range in mercury levels between types of tuna as well as among different brands. adults, and about 10 percent eat it at least once a week.īut tuna, like many other types of fish, often contains mercury, which can be toxic to adults and is of particular concern to children, infants, and, especially, pregnant people.īecause so many people eat tuna, and because of its potential risks, CR tested five popular brands of canned tuna for mercury: Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea, StarKist, Safe Catch, and Wild Planet. About a third of Americans eat it two or more times a month, according to a November 2022 nationally representative Consumer Reports survey (PDF) of 2,185 U.S. Cheap, convenient, and full of protein and essential omega-3 fatty acids, canned tuna is a classic staple in kitchen cabinets, delis, and school lunchboxes across the country.

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