Catfish & Tilapia - Not Great Choices for Fish

I saw that episode of Dirty Jobs and it wasn't each other's waste the fish were eating. They use them at water treatment plants to help clean the water of HUMAN waste, then when the fish get big enough, they pull them out and sell them to the grocery stores for human consumption. I'm sure they're probably cleaned and all that, but after watching that episode, I couldn't eat Tilapia again. GROSS!!!!
(Posted by my wife)
 
I believe MS is still the largest producer of farm raised catfish in the country. Yummy for me, but I guess you can get tired of it. I don't think I'll ever get enough of it. Considered starting a catfish farm when I lived in NC.

Hard to find good catfish around here that hasn't been shipped in from South America or Southeast Asia somewhere.
 
I saw that episode of Dirty Jobs and it wasn't each other's waste the fish were eating. They use them at water treatment plants to help clean the water of HUMAN waste, then when the fish get big enough, they pull them out and sell them to the grocery stores for human consumption. I'm sure they're probably cleaned and all that, but after watching that episode, I couldn't eat Tilapia again. GROSS!!!!
(Posted by my wife)

Thats not true. The fish farm they were at raised bass. They fed the bass regular "fish food". The tilapia were then brought in to eat the bass poop.

Episode 60. Originally aired on August 14, 2007
 
They use them at water treatment plants to help clean the water of HUMAN waste, then when the fish get big enough, they pull them out and sell them to the grocery stores for human consumption. I'm sure they're probably cleaned and all that, but after watching that episode...
Sorry, I don't buy that.... First, how do you clean the flesh or "meat" ? You make it sound like they hose the sh*t off of them and all's good. Second, why expose the farm-raised fish to possible diseases that the sh*t-cleaners may have ? Finally, the taste of meat is determined to a large extent by their diet, so you'll have two different flavors of tilapia now.
 
I saw that episode of Dirty Jobs and it wasn't each other's waste the fish were eating. They use them at water treatment plants to help clean the water of HUMAN waste, then when the fish get big enough, they pull them out and sell them to the grocery stores for human consumption. I'm sure they're probably cleaned and all that, but after watching that episode, I couldn't eat Tilapia again. GROSS!!!!
(Posted by my wife)

You might not want to know too much about how your vegetables are raised either. Great strides have been made in "brown" water and reuse of human waste for fertilizers as a way of conservation.

Sometimes knowing too much isn't a comfortable thing.

Rainbow Trout from Idaho- I can't resist. So don't tell me anything about the lakes etc.
 
I studied starting up a fish farm in NC. Eventually decided I wasn't going to do it. But I know the process well. No human wastes. Some stories about overseas shrimp/seafood farms using human wastes, but unlikely.

Special corn pellets are fed to them, in a certain procedure. Any fecal matter detected in tests- no sale. Human pathogens are a very real risk, especially on such a large scale, and where crowded conditions make for rapid transmission.

Now, wild caught catfish- the biggest ones are downstream of the sewer plant outlet.
 
Well, reading this thread has me convinced that tilapia is out from here on out. :)

And heck, I don't even like catfish, so I am good there!
 
I think Tilapia are closely related to Piranha. So I guess it's a matter of who gets to eat first.
 
I studied starting up a fish farm in NC. Eventually decided I wasn't going to do it. But I know the process well. No human wastes. Some stories about overseas shrimp/seafood farms using human wastes, but unlikely.

Special corn pellets are fed to them, in a certain procedure.
For what type of fish ? According to wikipedia, "Most tilapias are omnivorous with a preference for soft aquatic vegetation and detritus". Now, look up "detritus" ... here, let me: "detritus is non-living particulate organic material (as opposed to dissolved organic material). It typically includes the bodies of dead organisms or fragments of organisms or fecal material."
 
Catfish. By far the most common in NC at the time. Everything you could grow was pre-sold.
 
The FDA has a limit as to the allowed amount of "other material" that can be found in processed foods such as bug dirt, rocks, bug parts, bug waste, rodent waste.

Shrimp are bottom feeders and eat what ever they find.

Catfish are bottom feeders to just like carp and people eat both.

I've bought and cooked both catfish and tilapia and like the taste of both, the flavour has always been good and thankfully not strong on the tillapia.

Catfish really is best if its breaded and fried and the best I had was in Rose Alabama at this little place with two stocked ponds behind it.

The best road side bbq I've ever had was at a place back in Michigan on 12 between wamplers lake road and pentacost hwy, damn good pulled pork sandwich.
 
Shrimp are bottom feeders and eat what ever they find.

Catfish are bottom feeders to just like carp and people eat both.
And if anyone ever wonders why "free-range chickens" taste "different" the normal chicken raised for consumption, just remember, they eat whatever they find too. ;)
 
I've bought and cooked both catfish and tilapia and like the taste of both, the flavour has always been good and thankfully not strong on the tillapia.

Thanks VAN:
I think THIS was the point of the story; about how doctors and dietitians are pushing heart healthy diets and simply saying EAT MORE FISH and people simply gravitate to what is most prevalent and cheapest as long as it has a decent flavor; not knowing what the real value of the fish is (health-wise). The story points to two of the most commonly sold fish and they are two of the worst fish as far as being HEART HEALTHY; BEFORE any cooking method is applied; so only imagine how bad catfish can turn out on the health meter once FRIED! As well as any other item these are likely slathers with butter, sauce, etc which also kill health benefits.
 
I'll have some extra garlic with that.

Not sure but I think there's some question about shrimp. Maybe cholesterol.
I haven't heard anything bad about shrimp. As a pre-diabetic my health care provider had me attend a nutrition class. There we were told that shellfish in general has a bum rap that it is high in cholesterol. The instructor said that with one exception, shellfish is quite low in cholesterol. That exception is squid.

That same instructor said that the food highest in cholesterol is brains. Does anybody actually eat brains any more? I had them once as a child. They were tasteless. I never went back.
 
Ummm... Squid (calamari) are not shellfish, they are are a cephalopod just like octopus. You can eat either squid or shrimp in smaller portions and it will be just fine.
 

Outerbanks NC Good Eats?

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