Yesterday my daughter announced that sushi has moved into her top 5 “Favorite Foods” list. I was partly happy, because I’ll take her eating fish, rice, and seaweed over pizza & pasta every day of the week, but I was also a bit freaked out because of the mercury situation. We’d been out for Japanese the week before with some close friends, whose little girls chowed down platter upon platter of tuna rolls. I tried to steer my daughter towards avocado, cucumber or even shrimp rolls, as I couldn’t bear to think of her eating contaminated food. I promise you I’m no zealot when it comes to food (you’ll know that if you’ve read the G.G. Diet), and I certainly want my child to be able to unfettered in her food choices, especially when she’s being adventurous, BUT if I feel 
uncomfortable popping a piece of raw tuna into my mouth, there’s a problem. So what can we eat Sushi-wise that isn’t contaminated with mercury, PCB’s & Pesticides? The answer is: a lot less than you might have imagined! The smaller the fish, the less the mercury, however, small and super-healthy fish like sardines and anchovy aren’t typically found in sushi. So the only choices left would be vegetarian (cucumber, avocado), shrimp and California roll. The latter, however, requires a caveat: if your child suffers from any allergies, you’d probably be better off avoiding California Roll, as it’s typically made with imitation crab meat, which is ground-up/processed pollack, with artificial flavoring and dye. If I’m been really Gorgeously Green, I’d probably have to take the shrimp off that short list too, because of it’s dreadful eco-impact. So that leaves my daughter with a very limited choice. Thank Goodness she loves Miso soup and Inari (a pouch of fried tofu filled with rice.)
The best fish choices for children are not typically served in sushi bars and are as follows:
Anchovies (you can disguise them in a good Caesar Salad Dressing).
Catfish
Farmed Shellfish
Sardines (try adding a little sardine to a chunk light tuna salad to ease in slowly)
U.S. farmed Tilapia
Wild Alaskan Salmon (really expensive and only readily available for 2 months a year, but you can buy it canned).
Northern U.S. Shrimp (hard to find and really expensive).
Farmed Bay Scallops
Chunk light tuna
Canned Wild Pink Salmon
So if you’re cooking at home, you have much more to choose from and given that fish can be such an Omega-3 packed form of healthy protein, it makes sense to try to incorporate some of the above fish into your family meals. Keep in mind that your child’s small and developing body will be much more affected by heavy metals than yours or mine. If you’ve ever known anyone with mercury poisoning (I know two women), you’ll really think twice before popping the tuna rolls too often. Symptoms of mercury overload include: loss of vision and hearing, muscle tremors, numbness in hands and feet.
You can go to NRDC and check out their very useful Mercury calculator.
Finally, I’m so grateful about the many campaigns that are underway to save the Bluefin Tuna, an endangered species – meaning THERE’S NOT MUCH LEFT IN THE OCEAN -SOON TO BE NONE!!! After discovering that it was being served in high-end, celebrity Japanese restaurants, celebrities in the UK took it upon themselves to pose nude for a a campaign. If you want to take action, World Wildlife Fund is a great place to go.
Hi, Sophie
The Environmental Defense Fund seems to indicate that Keta salmon is fine, ecologically speaking, and I can usually find it reasonably priced.
Is it not used for sushi?