Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Testing meat for consumption

We have a small lake in Central Texas and regularly keep and eat large mouth bass to control the population. We're starting to wonder if we should limit our consumption.

How can we go about getting the meat tested to see if its safe to eat and in what quantity? We're near Austin, Texas.

If you’re concerned about a possible concentration of toxins within the fish, perhaps a comprehensive analysis of the pond’s water would provide some answers. For a fee, Texas A&M offers water testing for the general public, and is probably your best option for a comprehensive analysis………Heck, they would probably analyze a fish as well, but that would most likely cost you a small fortune…….. Good luck!

Follow up: Out of curiosity I just visited the A&M website, and I'm surprised to learn that their lab does NOT test water or soil samples for pesticides or petrochemicals……… That leaves me wondering why an agriculture college wouldn't do so.

Scientists do tests for reasonable risks rather than for risks perceived to be significant by non experts based on web browsing.

gully....i would think a call to these folks in Denton, Texas might be worth seeing if they could point you in the right direction. It appears their tests are geared towards city water and well water, but they may know of something that could help you. What do you have to lose but a phone call.

"This is a valuable option that you should consider if your water comes from a lake or pond or from a well in an agricultural region"

https://www.purewaterproducts.com/products/wt004

A call to your local health dept should provide you with contacts for the testing, if they don't already provide the service (mine does). What is your specific concern?

Thanks Zep, that looks to be a really comprehensive test for a reasonable price.

Good suggestion, Bill, but I suspect the only people testing liquids in my little podunk county are the probation officers. lol

I wouldn't worry too much about it unless there is known industrial or heavy agricultural pollution in your watershed.

If it causes you to lose sleep, don't eat the fish.

Older, larger, bass tend to have more contamination than small, young, ones, to my understanding.

Mostly, the publicly posted cautions I have seen pertain only to children under twelve, and pregnant women.

My specific concern is I have a pregnant wife and young kids.

You worry too much. It's fine, go fry some fish.

Younger fish are better eating and will not have as many built up toxins or heavy metals. If your really concerned keep the big bass for catching and eat the smaller ones. Unless you right next to a fertilize dump you should be fine with the young fish.

We also specifically don’t do them when we think the results might be used in some sort of legal dispute that we don’t want to be involved in...

The tests are not optional, and are designed by experts in safety and health. There is a lot of misinformation on the web in all areas. Use Google Scholar to do your web searching and most of that misinformation is filtered out.