FDA: Don't eat American lobster tomalley

Washington -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warns consumers not to eat tomalley in American lobster (Maine Lobster), no matter where the lobster was harvested.

FDA officials said tomalley -- the green substance found in a lobster's body that functions as the animal's liver and pancreas -- might be contaminated with dangerous levels of the toxins that cause paralytic shellfish poisoning, or PSP.

The federal agency said American lobsters, also known as Maine lobsters, are harvested from the Atlantic Ocean from Northeastern Canada to South Carolina.

The FDA said its advisory applies only to tomalley, since cooking doesn't eliminate PSP toxins.

"However, studies have shown that, even when high levels of PSP toxins are present in lobster tomalley, lobster meat itself is typically unaffected," the FDA said.

"Lobster tomalley normally does not contain dangerous levels of PSP toxins," the agency said in a statement. "The current high levels of PSP toxins likely are associated with an ongoing red tide episode in northern New England and eastern Canada. Authorities in Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, as well as in Canada, have issued advisories cautioning against eating tomalley.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.