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Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Headline of the Day

posted by on October 24 at 18:05 PM

From the PI:

Glowing shrimp found in Seattle supermarkets

Glowing shrimp? Surely a cause for concern, right? Not according to the FDA.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it was not going to investigate the Seattle episodes because no “official, through-the-proper-channels” report was made. “Further,” a spokeswoman added, “it’s not a food safety issue because no one got sick.”

RSS icon Comments

1

I assume they glow because of phosphorus? Which is present in all seawater? Haven't you ever seen the spark and glow at the shore in the right conditions? Maybe it's not being made a big deal of because it's not a big deal.

Posted by Fnarf | October 24, 2007 6:15 PM
2

Nothing to see here, folks...

Posted by Packratt | October 24, 2007 6:16 PM
3

Why do we even bother having a federal government anymore?

Posted by Gitai | October 24, 2007 6:22 PM
4

No, not phosphorous, phosphoresence.

Posted by ejamadoodle | October 24, 2007 6:24 PM
5

Unless these were say, the size of a Ford Explorer and shooting lightning bolts from their eye stalks, I'd say probably nothing for the FDA to worry its pretty little head over.

Besides, people should consider themselves lucky to buy them at regular prices today - by next week the fish-mongers will no doubt be selling "glowing shrimp" to the tourists at premium prices.

Posted by COMTE | October 24, 2007 6:40 PM
6

Mmmmm... Glow-worms of the sea.

Posted by Michigan Matt | October 24, 2007 6:52 PM
7

"Surely a cause for concern, right?"
Well, only if you don't need to wait for facts or perspective, I guess...

C'mon Dan: let's not do uninformed panic just yet. That's what the Concerned Women for America are for.

Posted by torrentprime | October 24, 2007 6:52 PM
8

Dump 'em on the wild fire.

Posted by Lloyd Clydesdale | October 24, 2007 7:06 PM
9

I would think glowing shrimp must be beautiful. Why didn't they think of this before?

Posted by M | October 24, 2007 7:16 PM
10

"mmmmmmmmm glowing shirmp! aaaaahhhhhhh"

Posted by Homer Simpson | October 24, 2007 7:35 PM
11

Well there is phosphorus in our waters too, but it just causes nasty algae and other problems.

Posted by Giffy | October 24, 2007 8:14 PM
12

ew

Posted by duncan | October 24, 2007 8:33 PM
13

Quit yer bitchin'. You get the federal regulators you pay for.

Posted by Greg | October 24, 2007 9:23 PM
14

LESS BITCHING
POST PICS OF GLOWING SHRIMPS kthxbye

Posted by matthew fisher wilder | October 24, 2007 9:27 PM
15

Okay, I'm sure no one actually watches that new series Big Bang Theory, but in one of the episodes a guy creates a goldfish that glows in the dark to use as a nightlight. Can shrimp now make this dream a reality? Something to consider.

Posted by Megan W | October 24, 2007 9:32 PM
16

If I eat them, will I crap glowing shit? Because if I will, that would make eating them totally worth it :P

Posted by Gomez | October 24, 2007 9:39 PM
17

Infections by phosphorscent bacilli are very common in ocean critters, thus the flesh of a lot of dead fish glows because the bacterial infection sets in as their health fades.
It's not too surprising that supermarket shrimp would be infected. Most of them are farmed under pretty poor conditions and one wouldn't expect them to have robust immune systems.

Posted by kinaidos | October 24, 2007 9:42 PM
18

They're glowing because they are in LOVE.

Obviously!

Posted by darryl | October 24, 2007 9:58 PM
19

Enough of this boring, web-surfing shit- how do you REALLY feel about RTID?

Posted by Big Sven | October 24, 2007 10:17 PM
20

lol @ 19

Posted by haha | October 24, 2007 11:05 PM
21

Not phosphorescent, bioluminescent. Probably nontoxic bacteria such as a nontoxic strain of Vibrio.

Posted by greg | October 24, 2007 11:14 PM
22

Unfortunately, neither you or the PI produced a picture. :(

Posted by Amelia | October 25, 2007 12:08 AM
23

You want a picture of glowing shrimp?

Look no further than this interesting read:
http://www.nokomiseast.org/yard/light/glowinthedark.html

(*ok, not quite the same as a bacterially infected glowing shrimp, but quite an interesting tale about phosphorescent shrimps, walleye, pearls, and WWII)

Posted by packratt | October 25, 2007 12:47 AM
24

lots of sea critters bioluminesce (is that a word?) as they start to decay. I worked in a restaurant where it was not at all uncommon to see a glow coming from the coos bay shrimp just before they started to smell like ammonia.

there are mushrooms that glow, too.

Posted by soosh | October 25, 2007 6:01 AM
25

My gin and tonics glow, why shouldn't my shrimp?

Posted by monkey | October 25, 2007 7:49 AM
26

Your gin and tonics glow because of the quinine in the tonic. Technically, your vodka tonics should also glow. The FDA spokeswoman could have alleviated concern instead of fueling speculation. How lame.

Posted by idaho | October 25, 2007 8:35 AM
27

Before the invention of the safety lamp, coal miners took rotting fish down into the mines to see by. And you think your job stinks.

Posted by Fnarf | October 25, 2007 9:12 AM
28

You know, the vast majority of food scares seem to be related to meat. There's a very easy solution if you're concerned about these things. Don't eat meat.

Yeah, yeah, I know you want to, and that's fine. But stop bitching when it turns out to be polluted and disgusting.

Posted by exelizabeth | October 25, 2007 9:15 AM
29

Sweet, I want those at my next cocktail party.

Posted by Office Monkey | October 25, 2007 10:21 AM
30

exelizabeth,

thank you for letting us know about your concerns.

Posted by frank chop's staff | October 25, 2007 10:22 AM
31

Actually, exelizabeth, the vast majority of food contamination cases are about vegetables, particularly things like lettuce and sprouts, that are mostly water.

Posted by Fnarf | October 25, 2007 10:51 AM
32

and that, exelizabeth, is why we're going to have to start ignoring you again.

Posted by frank chop's staff | October 25, 2007 10:56 AM
33

Good thing, this. The light bulb in my fridge burnt out.

Posted by Will in Seattle | October 25, 2007 11:06 AM
34

@28 Yeah you never hear about, say ecoli-ridden spinach killing dozens of people or anything.

Posted by chi type | October 25, 2007 12:22 PM
35

Am I the only one who read that these were already cooked? Cooking kills the bacteria and therefore it should not be glowing. It means they were cross-contaminated with UNCOOKED shrimps. That is a huge problem!!

Oh - I also try not to eat any meat products that my cat refuses. I know she can smell things I don't... ( : =

Posted by subwlf | October 25, 2007 12:45 PM
36

These are wild shrimp, the bacteria is natural. It could potentially happen to any seafood. These cooked shrimp probably came in contact with other seafood. Safe to eat, but hard to swallow yes.

Posted by from the industry | October 25, 2007 9:17 PM

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