What's wrong with these pictures?

Image by dougtone via Flickr

I was leafing through (201) magazine at Hackensack Toyota, where my car was being serviced on Thursday, when I came across the main article on food: elaborate dishes by chefs at five of Bergen County's best restaurants.

What's the purpose of such an article, which had mouth-watering close-ups of the food? Is it to promote the restaurants? Is it to inspire readers to go and order the dish, or to attempt to duplicate it at home? Is the magazine saying, Maybe you can advertise with us? Or is it the magazine's way of saying thank you to advertisers?

So I took a closer look. Four of the dishes employed seafood, but two used deep-red tuna that was cooked rare. Seems like a lack of coordination there, and tuna is a fish very high in harmful mercury. A third dish used salmon, but it was likely farmed salmon, which is artificially colored and often contains contaminants. The fourth dish was lobster in a creamy sauce.

I won't be running out to try any of these dishes. I cook seafood at home, using wild-caught fish low in mercury. Thanks (201), but no thanks. (Photo: A road in Bergen County.)

Good deal may not be good for you

The latest sales circular from Fairway Market in Paramus, in today's newspaper, prominently displays "fresh-cut, local" swordfish steaks for $6.99 a pound, a savings of $6 a pound.

Unfortunately, swordfish is one of five species with the most mercury, according to the June 2009 Consumer Reports On Health newsletter, which recommends that pregnant women and children should not consume it. The rest of us "can probably consume very occasionally."

Consumer Reports bases its conclusions on data from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration. The other four species with the highest level of mercury are king mackerel, shark, tilefish and fresh tuna.