No more Toro?

Tuna has high amount of mercury is no mystery to many foodies and sushi fiends. But exactly how high has been reiterated by a NY Times article last week. The study sampled 20 top sushi restaurants in the city, including some big names like Nobu, Blue Ribbon and Sushi of Gari, and found all of their tuna has mercury level higher than EPA recommended level. 5 out of the 20 are so high that they could be legally regulated to take them off the market. The article says that more than 6 pieces of tuna sushi for an adult is over the EPA recommended limit.

It is ironic that the higher the price of the tuna, the likelihood of it containing more mercury, because they are likely to come from bigger species that are high on the fish foodchain and mercury from the pollution accumulates from the amount of the fish they had eaten in their life time. On the contrary, the canned tuna in the supermarket has much lower level of mercury since they are made from tuna that are smaller and lower on the food chain.

I was never that much a tuna fan, until I had some toro sashimi quite a while back. The look is not very appetizing (it looks like raw pork), but the texture and flavor just knocks you off your feet. It literally melts in your mouth. Now that this issue was again in the spotlight, I wonder if tuna price will drop dramtically. More importantly, does it mean no more Toro for me?