Question

Consumption of a specific fish in Spain is being discouraged due to serious concerns.

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❌ Ordenan la retirada inmediata de este pescado de España y piden que no se consuma.

➡️ En la notificación del Sistema de Alerta Rápida para Alimentos y Piensos de la UE se habla de riesgo “grave”

www.larazon.es/sociedad/ord...

Answer 1

Yes, the claim is accurate. The European Union's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) issued a serious health alert due to elevated mercury levels in a batch of thawed and marinated yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) loins from Spain. The alert was triggered by Italian authorities after an official market control. Laboratory analyses revealed mercury concentrations exceeding the EU's legal limit of 1.0 mg/kg. Consequently, Spanish authorities ordered the immediate withdrawal of the affected product from the market and advised consumers not to consume it. Mercury contamination in fish, particularly in predatory species like yellowfin tuna, poses significant health risks, especially to vulnerable groups such as pregnant women and children. The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition (AESAN) recommends limiting the consumption of certain fishery products due to their high mercury content.  https://www.agroberichtenbuitenland.nl/actueel/nieuws/2019/11/19/spain-mercury-leads-to-confusion-in-fish-consumption

Answer 2

After being curious about this research, I began to dive a little deeper into this. There are a couple articles I found upon the fish crisis in Spain. Such as in "Eurofish: International Organization", https://eurofish.dk/challenges-facing-the-seafood-products-market-in-spain/. This article was posted on November 1, 2016. It talks about the dropped consumption during the year 2015 in Spain, but ever specifically mentions a fish that is being discouraged due to serious concerns. However, after trying to figure out this specific fish in which you are talking about, and also after looking through your source provided, it is in a different language, and there still isn't a specification of which fish exactly it is talking about. This information is very misleading, and there definitely should be some clarification on this and more in-depth of the source provided along with other sources to back this up in a more informed text.

Comments

Did you visit the Bluesky post? It included a source link to a Spanish news outlet that reported on the incident, which looks legitimate (use Google Translate to understand the piece). After checking the news, you may want to revise your fact-check...

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The claim that a specific fish is being discouraged in Spain lacks clear evidence. The Eurofish article mentions a decline in fish consumption but doesn’t specify any particular fish or concern. More reliable sources are needed for verification.

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I completely agree with this fact check. The claim is very misleading after looking into it myself and finding similar dilemmas. I think the article that this fact check used is trustworthy and reliable.

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I agree with your statement about how the information is misleading because your source does correctly highlight how the Spanish draw away too the care for the humane value of the fish and there environment they affect. Although, how would you like to see the Spanish clarify there view, especially to the public?

Answer 3

​I researched this statement and it seems that what they are saying is true when researching. Spain has raised many concerns about the consumption of certain fish species due to high mercury levels. The Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition has strongly recommended that children under 10 years old and pregnant women avoid consuming swordfish, bluefin tuna, and dogfish because of their high mercury levels. Mercury accumulation in these fish cause serious health risks, affecting the nervous system. ​Olive Press News Spain+1Food Compliance Solutions+1 in May 2024, a health alert was issued after the detection of the Anisakis parasite in hake roe imported from Morocco. The European Union's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) identified the parasite, leading to the immediate withdrawal of the product from the market. https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2024/05/07/children-under-10-should-avoid-eating-these-types-of-fish-according-to-health-agency-in-spain/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

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Comments

I would argue that what they say is misleading, even though your factcheck is well conducted, you are discussing many different fish, while the assertion clearly points to one "specific" fish.

Answer 4

Claim: Swordfish has been banned in Spain due to a serious health risk.
Verdict: Misleading

Explanation:

The article comes from larazon.es, a real Spanish news site. It’s conservative-leaning and known for dramatic headlines, but it’s not a fake news site.

However, this article’s URL is shortened (“www.larazon.es/sociedad/ord...”) — that’s a red flag. The EU’s RASFF system did issue an alert in March 2024 about a specific shipment of swordfish from Spain that contained unsafe levels of mercury. As a result, the batch was recalled. However, this was a targeted recall — not a full ban. The Spanish government has not banned swordfish or advised the general public to stop eating it. The original article from La Razón uses a sensationalist headline that has been widely misinterpreted.

Trusted Sources:

• RASFF official alert on mercury in swordfish (March 2024)

Comments

This answer gave a me much more clarity and has cleared up many misconceptions in the initial response. These sources do not provide a bases to go off of. The references are good but the links presented do not point me to a cite with information that s helpful.  And Spain is encouraging people to stop eating predator fishes due to problems  in the ecosystem.

https://www.mispeces.com/en/news/Europeans-Eating-Less-Seafood-A-Growing-Concern/

Answer 5

The claim that the consumption of a specific type of fish is being discouraged in Spain is true. The article claims that Yellowfish Tuna originating from Italy has been found to have unhealthy levels of mercury. This claim was reported across the news, discouraging eating tuna, specifically harmful health effects for pregnant women, the elderly and young children. For example, the same article was reported in ABC and La Van Guardia. https://www.lavanguardia.com/comer/expres/20241121/10125710/nueva-alerta-alimentaria-elevados-niveles-mercurio-atun-producido-espana-pmv.html

Both of these articles site the information coming from the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed.

https://www.abc.es/sociedad/alerta-alimentaria-grave-altos-niveles-mercurio-pescado-20250404191031-nt.html?ref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.abc.es%2Fsociedad%2Falerta-alimentaria-grave-altos-niveles-mercurio-pescado-20250404191031-nt.html

This claim can be checked on the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, which is an exchange system that connects multiple different countries with important health and safety information. They sent a notification about the safety of the tuna during the same time the article was written. https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/659968

The article does claim Spain had banned the fish, which is misleading, as it only discourages eating the fish.

Answer 6

The element of Mercury is a global issue, it is all around the world these days and people should be careful with what they feed their bodies. The claim led to a spanish article which I was completely able to read. The article talked about high mercury levels being in Tuna fish but different reports i went over said it was multiple fish and that it was happening all around the world, not just in spain. And a lot of those articles talked about the consumption of seafood lowering as the years go by in the spanish countries. Because as it is, everyone is aware of this, thats why pregnant women dont usually consume seafood when their pregnant, because this cause is globally famous, even though the article from the original claim might be misleading and a little exaggerated it doesnt take away from the fact that it is true. 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3096006/
 

https://health.ri.gov/mercury-poisoning/fish#:~:text=Health%20Risks&text=Fish%20are%20good%20to%20eat,to%20adults%20at%20high%20levels.