Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette At the Whole Foods seafood counter, a sign advises customers of the risks of eating some species of fish and shellfish that contain high levels of toxic mercury. Devenee Schumacher, who oversees the counter, stands near a scale in the background. She said the signs have not hurt seafood sales. Trader Joe's in East Liberty also posts such advisories in its seafood department. Click photo for larger image.

Get past the Hawaiian shirts at the Trader Joe's store in East Liberty and find the fish freezer. Nestled next to the king mackerel and shark steaks you'll find a postcard-sized sign of special interest for nursing mothers, pregnant women, women of child-bearing age and children.

In an artistic script it states that the store thinks it's important for those "valued customers" to know about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration advisory to avoid eating mackerel, shark, tilefish, swordfish and limit consumption of albacore tuna because those species contain high levels of toxic mercury.

A similarly worded advisory can also be found at Whole Foods in East Liberty on a half dozen slightly smaller signs taped at eye level to the glass that separates the fish and fillets from the customers.

But those are the only supermarkets in the Pittsburgh area where seafood shoppers in those special, vulnerable, populations can readily view signs alerting them to the dangers of eating fish containing high levels of mercury -- dangers that include childhood attention and language deficits, memory loss, mental retardation, impaired vision and motor functions, and heart disease and heart attacks.

According to Oceana, a national ocean conservation organization, most people are not aware of the FDA advisory, and stores not voluntarily posting it are unnecessarily exposing their customers to the undisclosed mercury risk. It's a risk that's especially high during this holiday season when seafood sales rise.

"Although many of our country's largest grocery retailers now post the FDA's advice at their seafood counters, many customers, especially in the eastern U.S., still are not getting the message," said Jackie Savitz, director of Oceana's Campaign to Stop Seafood Contamination. "We hope that soon the remaining companies will recognize how easily they can protect their customers' health."

The list of supermarket chains that now post a seafood consumption advisory sign includes such well-known chains as Safeway, Star Market, Vons, Acme and Carrs. Albertson's just changed its policy last month and is posting signs.

A recent nationwide survey by Oceana found that only 16 percent of the supermarkets in Pennsylvania post mercury consumption advisory signs, and of the 97 stores that do, 95 are located in the eastern half of the state. The survey did not look at signs in smaller groceries.

Pennsylvania's score is just slightly above the national average of 12 percent of supermarkets posting the advisory. Boosting that average is California, where all supermarkets are required to post signs containing the FDA advisory, and Hawaii, Alaska, Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Washington, D.C., where more than 60 percent of the markets hang signs.

None of the almost 700 supermarkets in Alabama, Mississippi, West Virginia and North Dakota post signs alerting customers to the mercury risk, a risk noted last month by the Institute of Medicine, which reaffirmed the need to follow the FDA mercury advisory.

That advisory on the risks of fish and shellfish consumption, issued jointly by the FDA and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2004, recommended that women of child-bearing age and children not eat any shark, tilefish, king mackerel or swordfish, and limit albacore tuna consumption to 6 ounces or less per week.

Mercury occurs naturally, but the amount in the atmosphere has tripled since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. When it falls to earth and washes into lakes, rivers, streams and oceans, it is consumed by aquatic organisms that are eaten by fish and shellfish.

Nearly all fish contain mercury, but long-lived, larger fish that feed on other fish contain the most. In addition to those on the FDA list, Pennsylvania and 44 other states have issued fish consumption advisories warning anglers about mercury contamination in freshwater fish from local waterways.

Trader Joe's has voluntarily posted mercury consumption advisories in all 23 states where it has stores since September 2005, said Alison Mochizuki, a company spokeswoman.

"At Trader Joe's we feel it is important to inform our customers about the products we carry," Ms. Mochizuki said. "Our stores post warning signs about the traces of mercury in seafood where the applicable products are merchandised."

Devenee Schumacher, the "meat team leader" who also oversees the seafood counter at Pittsburgh's Whole Foods store, said maybe half the people who come to the fish counter have heard about the advisory but she still gets a lot of questions about it.

"For the people who don't eat much fish those signs reach out to the people who are not aware and wouldn't be aware if we didn't post the signs," Ms. Schumacher said. "We're not here to hide anything."

She said the signs, contrary to fears in the supermarket industry, haven't hurt seafood sales. The store still moves between 100 and 150 pounds of swordfish and tuna a week, 30 pounds of tilefish, and 10 to 20 pounds of mackerel.

Wild Oats, a Western market chain based in Boulder, Colo., said its seafood sales have increased since it began posting mercury consumption advisory signs.

"A lot of women will ask what fish they can eat, and we don't want people to be pushed away from fish because there are so many good things there. Fish are brain food, " Ms. Schumacher said. "So we push a lot of white fish for those women. We just want to make people more aware and help them make better choices."

Giant Eagle, the region's biggest grocery retailer, doesn't have signs at any of its stores. Neither does Shop 'n Save or Wal-Mart.

Dick Roberts, a Giant Eagle spokesman, said its seafood counter managers have been trained to respond to questions about mercury contaminated seafood, and, if asked, will hand out a brochure that contains the FDA warning.

"We've followed the guidelines about educating consumers to the dangers of mercury in seafood," Mr. Roberts said. "We don't have signs. We're following the guidelines of the FDA and the Food Marketing Institute."

But neither the FDA nor the FMI, the supermarket industry's trade association, has issued any guidelines about how the shoppers should be informed about the consumption advisory.

Jill Hollingsworth, vice president of the food safety program for FMI, said the association doesn't make or set policy but has provided member markets with information about the FDA advisory that they can use in brochures or signs.

A visit last week to Giant Eagle's big-as-a-farm store at Village Square in Bethel Park, found a warning about undercooked shellfish on the lobster tank and a brochure about shrimp platter offerings on the top of the seafood counter, but no signs and no brochures about mercury risks in seafood.

Stacy Bender, the store's "seafood lead," said the store was out of the brochures, but doesn't display them when they have them.

"I've requested more," she said. "People do ask about mercury fairly often."

Information about mercury in fish was also hard to come by at two other "Big Bird" stores. At the Caste Village shopping center, Whitehall, the seafood manager was off and none of the folks working the counter could find a brochure or knew anything about which fish species contained high levels of mercury.

At the Cochran Road store in Scott, one of the fish counter workers located a stack of brochures -- titled "What you need to know about mercury in fish and shellfish" -- located behind some signs about shrimp platter offerings but inaccessible to customers unless they asked for one. The woman behind the counter said no one had ever asked for one before.

To better educate seafood consumers about the mercury risks, Ms. Savitz said Oceana is recommending that shoppers tell their supermarkets to post a sign with some version of the FDA advisory. She said people don't want to read a brochure when they go grocery shopping, but they're used to responding to signs in the market.

"The signs get them the information they need in a glance. We're not satisfied with brochures," said Ms. Savitz, who added that Giant Eagle has been receptive to talking about Oceana's request it post signs.

"We're asking the stores to go beyond the rules to benefit their customers," she said. "Giant Eagle has done a lot of good things. We hope this is the next good thing it does."