Learn More About The Grocery Store Campaign

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports that fish and fish products - both caught and purchased - are the greatest source of methylmercury ingested by humans. Contaminated fish can be found in all the oceans of the world, as mercury climbs up the marine food chain and onto our dinner plates.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in the United States

  • Nearly 85% of adults consume seafood at least once a month
  • 40% do so on a weekly basis.



The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have warned women and children to limit their consumption of certain types of fish, yet not enough people are aware of these warnings. People throughout America and the world are getting slowly poisoned every day, and neither our governments nor our main sources of food – our supermarkets -- are doing enough to stop it.

The Public Wants to Know What's in Their Seafood

The results of a public opinion survey conducted for Oceana overwhelmingly show that the public wants to know which fish are high in mercury. Click to see the results (pdf).

Check Out The Signs

Check out real signs that are being hung in stores and sample signs that you can give to your store.

Myths and Facts about Mercury Signs

Check out a list of common myths about mercury signs and corresponding facts.  You can also check out our general mercury myths and facts.

  • Myth: Posting signs about mercury at the seafood counter will cause people to stop eating fish.
  • Fact: Posting signs is a common sense solution. Customers want to cut through the clutter and know which fish women of childbearing age and children should avoid, which in turn helps them buy other, healthier fish. Two major chains, Safeway and Wild Oats, are already posting signs. Wild Oats saw no economic impact on these species of fish, and overall, has actually seen an increase in seafood sales since they began posting.