What should pregnant women be aware of?
For the many commonly eaten fish and seafood species in New Zealand there is little concern about mercury levels and these species can be eaten freely. Included are oysters, mussels, skipjack tuna, mackerel, tarakihi, salmon, blue cod, hoki, john dory, monkfish, warehou, whitebait, flat fish like flounder and small canned fish such as sardines. (See the table at the end of this document for more details).
The Total Diet Survey 2003/04 showed that mixed fish species (eg, battered fish and fish fingers) are also low in methylmercury and can be eaten without restriction.
Seafood types to be mindful of during pregnancy include some of the longer lived and larger fish, and consumption of these types should be limited to three to four servings (each of about 150g) per week. These include albacore tuna, gemfish, orange roughy, ling, skate, kahawai, groper, bluenose, ghost sharks, oreo dories, red cod, ribaldo and rig (spotted dogfish or lemonfish).
There are a small number of species where it would be wise to eat no more than one serving per week or fortnight during pregnancy, and not at all if consuming other types of seafood. These include dogfish (apart from rig), school shark, swordfish, marlin, cardinal fish, and fish such as trout caught from waters in geothermal regions (mercury is produced from volcanic emissions). Pregnant women should also limit their intake of oysters and queen scallops due to high cadmium concentrations.
There is no reason to be concerned about breastfeeding. The critical period of mercury exposure for your baby is while it is still developing in the womb. Once the baby is born, the risk is much lower and is the same as the risk for adults, therefore no additional precautions are necessary.
Processed foods during pregnancy
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