To frighten viewers, horror films rely on eerie mood music, spooky narration and fake blood lots of fake blood.

One could comfortably assume that production of a Freddie Kruger film would be a far cry (or should I say, blood-curdling scream) from the straight-up broadcast of infotainment programming. But the newsroom mantra, if it bleeds it leads, is not an excuse for the folks at America Now to spill misinformation all over the set.

The hosts, Bill Rancic and Liza Geebons might as well be horrors hapless camp counsellors telling a fireside ghost story: How safe is your seafood? But this isnt a thriller (literally or figuratively) or at least it shouldnt be. According to its website, America Nowis a fast-paced daily newsmagazine show. But if they were going for scary, the only thing frightening about their August 6 broadcast was the grotesque number of factual errors in the story:

• Overfishing in U.S. fisheries mak[es] us dependent on imported seafood from other countries where food safety standards are less strict. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)s Status of Stocks 2011 report says otherwise, noting that most U.S. fisheries are not in an overfished state. Of the stocks with overfishing status, 86 percent are not subject to overfishing, while 79 percent of stocks with overfished status are not overfished. 27 stocks are fully rebuilt, 51 stocks are rebuilding and 6 more stocks are planned to regrow in the future.

• The FDA also tests seafood for mercury poisoning, which can cause severe neurological damage in humans. No peer-reviewed medical journal has ever documented an American suffering from mercury toxicity from the normal consumption of commercial seafood. To safeguard the public health, the FDA enforces a mercury level of 1.0ppm, which is a built-in safety factor of a 1000 percent. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, as well as numerous medical organizations and nutritionists, encourage Americans to eat more seafood because the benefits of consumption far outweigh the risks associated with exposure to methylmercury.

• The FDA is only able to test about 2 percent of our seafood. This statistic gets thrown around to suggest seafood is under regulated, but the claim doesnt hold up. The Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points (HACCP), the FDAs management system, implements safety protocols, carries out monitoring procedures, identifies risk of pathogens and regulates proper handling well before fish enters our docks. The 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act also calls for further scrutiny, including coordination of inspections of foreign facilities to increase the percentage of imported seafood and seafood facilities inspected. If that isnt enough, third-party certification programs exist to uphold safety standards in imported fish.

• Food-borne illnesses like salmonella and listeria are commonly found in fish. According to a published review of CDC data, fish is one of the safest foods you can eat.

Whats truly terrifying in all of this is the real risk to human health when we fail to eat the recommended quantity of seafood 2-3 meals a week to get essential nutrients like omega-3s. When you dont, perhaps you turn into a zombie?