Seafood Toxins Survive Cooking, Sparking Hundreds of Outbreaks
A CDC review of U.S. outbreaks (2011–2023) finds hundreds linked to marine toxins, mainly ciguatoxins from harmful algal blooms and histamine-producing scombroid toxins from improperly stored fish. These toxins resist cooking and can accumulate up the food chain, sickening people who eat contaminated seafood and, in some cases, causing hospitalizations or death. Prevention centers on strict temperature control, safer handling of imported fish, and targeted warnings about affected areas and species.
