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Eating mosselen met frieten (mussels with fries) is quintessentially Belgian, especially when done during mussel season (September to April), with mussels fished from the Zeeland region of The Netherlands (Belgium may have a coast, but its demand for mussels exceeds local supply). But, could this hunger for Zeelandse mussels be whetted by some less-savory news about its freshwater cousin, the zebra mussel?
A news item from Spectroscopy Now talks about a proteomic study on freshwater mussels exposed to metabolites of illicit drugs found in waterways (think rivers, canals, etc.). One of the (unsurprising, but) interesting results is that these little critters suffer from oxidative stress and damage not just from the drugs themselves, but also from the metabolites of the drugs. Researchers from Milan (Italy) and Cork (Ireland) demonstrated that zebra mussels are susceptible to oxidative stress upon exposure to benzoylecgonine, the primary metabolite of cocaine, which can be found from roughly 500 ng/L to 3 µg/L in water.
What could be the implications? Culinary-wise, zebra mussels (although edible) are not usually eaten because these creatures accumulate a lot of undesirable things through filter feeding. Think heavy metals, drug metabolites. However, these mussels are not the only filter-feeders in the aquatic food web. That is, there are other shellfish which may be also be vulnerable to such events (such as actual mussels used for mosselen met frieten, which grow in brackish coastal areas). And by being such efficient bioaccumulators, predators (e.g., large gamefish) may also be affected by the "gift" of zebra mussels.
But I still look forward to digging into a casserole of mussels (certified clean by rigorous EU standards, at least!) sometime before April.
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