The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning about the sale or consumption of certain imported, salt-cured alewives fish from Canada. Ungutted salt-cured alewives (also known as gaspereaux fish) produced by a Canadian firm and sent to distributors in Florida shouldn't be eaten because they may contain the bacterium that causes botulism, a serious and sometimes life-threatening condition. The toxin cannot be removed by cooking or freezing.

Symptoms of botulism can begin six hours to 10 days after consumption, and may include double or blurred vision, dropped eyelids, slurred speech, difficult swallowing, dry mouth, and muscle weakness. Botulism can also cause deadly paralysis of the breathing muscles. Anyone with these symptoms should be given immediate medical attention.

The fish was imported to the following Florida distributors: Quirch Foods Inc., Den-Mar Exports LLC, Dolphin Fisheries Inc., and Labrador and Son Food Products Inc.

Officials said 173 pails of fish were distributed and might have been repacked or sold loose by retailers in Florida.

A proposal to encourage eating of fish to promote a healthier lifestyle is becoming a political issue in the final months of the Bush administration, reports the Associated Press. The government recommends that pregnant women and children limit their intake of fish because of the possibility that they may also consume harmful amounts of mercury.

In 2004, both the FDA, which regulates the amount of mercury that can be in seafood sold in markets and restaurants, and the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) which investigates and regulates mercury in fish caught recreationally, issued a joint advisory which suggested limiting the amount of fish in vulnerable groups of people as well as advising that same group not to eat four species of fish—swordfish, king mackerel, tilefish and shark—that are high in mercury.

While some agencies denounce the FDA’s report as simply being a pawn of polluters, others agreed with the FDA, saying the benefits of eating seafood outweigh the risks of mercury.