EU admits: toxic shark meat is unacceptable.
April 7, 2026
By Taïme Smit
My name is Taïme. I am a marine biologist - one who always loved sharks. That’s why writing to you today feels deeply personal to me.
Because, thanks to you, we are one step closer to protecting our oceans.
Last year, more than 60,000 of us spoke out against toxic shark meat. [1] And over 2,000 of us send emails directly to EU decision-makers with new, alarming evidence: 2 out of 3 samples of shark meat in European supermarkets contain illegal, dangerous levels of mercury. [2]
This was information they could not ignore or dismiss.
When confronted with these findings, the team of the Commissioner of Health and Animal Wellbeing, Olivér Várhelyi, answered us directly, calling the situation “completely unacceptable.”
And they promised us that they would reach out to the countries selling toxic shark meat, to investigate and find a solution. We’ll be watching closely to make sure that they do.
Together, we pushed the EU to face the truth about what’s happening to sharks, to our oceans, and to our health. And we will not stop until sharks stay where they belong: under the sea, not on supermarket shelves.
