Lobster TomalleyEating lobster tomalley has been questionable for a long time. I can remember when I was a kid, my parents telling me "don't eat the green stuff!" But then I'd go to a friend's house, and they ate it, so I did to. And acquired a taste for it, too! The lobster's tomalley, which is the green pasty stuff in the body of the lobster, is both the liver and pancreas. The liver's function in any animal's body is to filter toxins from entering the rest of the animal's body. This means that there are no toxins in the rest of the lobster meat, it's all in the tomalley. Of course, this is also true of beef liver, chicken, liver, etc, and lots of people eat those. Departments of public health in both the US and Canada have advised limiting comsumption of tomalley for many years now, due to these increased levels of toxins. However, in 2008, a red tide across the eastern seaboard increased the severity of those alerts. Red tide is also known as harmful algal bloom. It makes filter-feeding shellfish to be dangerous because of the possibility of paralytic shellfish poisoning. This caused the closure of many clam beds and oyster beds.
United StatesThe US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an advisory in July 2008 warning against any consumption of the tomalley 'American lobster' or 'Maine lobster' because of the danger of Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning. The warning applies to the tomalley only, not the meat. This warning followed similar warnings from the State of Maine Department of Health, the State of Massachusetts Department of Health, and the State of New York Department of Health.CanadaHealth Canada's advisory is bit less stringent. Health Canada issued an advisory in May 2008 to limit the consumption of lobster tomalley. That advisory was updated in March 2009. The current recommendation is NO consumption of lobster tomalley for children and adults to limit their consumption to no more than the tomalley of a single lobster per day. Again this is due to the increased risk of paralytic shellfish poisoning due to the red tide.
I should note that as of July 2009, there has not been a single case of paralytic shellfish poisoning from lobster tomalley, anywhere in the world. As for me? I am following Health Canada's recommendation. Even the Lobster Queen doesn't eat lobster every day - or even every week. So yes, when I have lobster, I do eat the tomalley, and find it delicious. Not that I'm telling you to - you have to make that decision yourself, based on the official information.
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