The science behind salmon safety

Irish seafood products undergo rigorous, quality-assured tests to ensure regulatory compliance, says Aengus Parsons

An opinion piece in the Irish Examiner last week questioned the food safety of farmed salmon, referring to a 10-year-old information leaflet on contaminant levels and ignoring the wealth of recent publicly available data.

The facts are that Irish seafood products, including farmed salmon, undergo vigorous, quality-assured testing to ensure full compliance with EU and national regulatory limits, designed to protect consumers. Farmed salmon is an excellent source of omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are of key importance for cardiovascular health, brain development, and cognitive health. Salmon are also a good source of high-quality protein and supply minerals and certain vitamins.

The three groups of man-made pollutants referred to in the Irish Examiner article — dioxins (which result from incomplete combustion in power generation and waste incineration), polychlorinated biphenyls (man-made substances widely used historically in electrical equipment) and brominated flame retardants (added to household products for the purpose of fire prevention) — have become widespread in the environment due to global atmospheric dispersion. The use of many of these substances has been phased out or restricted internationally. Their levels in the Irish environment are generally low compared with more industrialised countries in the EU and levels are predominantly decreasing following regional and global controls.

The Marine Institute routinely monitors contaminants in the Irish marine environment and in Irish fishery products (including farmed salmon) and works with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and the Sea Fisheries Protection Authority to ensure a high level of consumer protection and compliance with food safety standards. Environmental and food safety testing are subject to rigorous, independent quality checks and audits, and results are reported to international agencies and assessed against the strictest available criteria.

Regular monitoring and targeted surveillance studies on Irish fishery products, including farmed salmon, show that levels of contaminants are well below the European legislative limits. Levels in the non-oily fish surveyed (such as cod) and also in shellfish are lower than in the oily fish species surveyed (mackerel, tuna, farmed salmon, and sea-reared trout).

There has been a marked decline in levels found in farmed salmon over the last decade or more. This decline most likely reflects the introduction of controls on these substances in fish feed; feed from wild fish sources being a source of contamination in farmed salmon.

The levels of contaminants found in Irish seafood, including farmed salmon, are well within the strict limits set by the European Commission to ensure food safety and protect consumers.

Overall, the results of the Marine Institute’s routine seafood safety monitoring supports the advice from the FSAI that consumers should eat at least two portions of fish per week, including at least one serving of oily fish (for example, salmon, mackerel, trout, herring).

Reporting on important issues such as food safety should use the most relevant and up-to-date information. The Marine Institute leaflet referred to in the Irish Examiner article was based on a small-scale study carried out in 2004. The leaflet was published in 2004, not 2007 as reported. The article failed to refer to more extensive and widely available studies carried out over the last 10 years by the Marine Institute in conjunction with the FSAI.

Up-to-date results of all our monitoring programmes are available on the Marine Institute website www.marine.ie.

Aengus Parsons is director of marine environment and food safety services at the Marine Institute