Food Safety
Health issues
Consumptions of seafood contaminated by biotoxins, micro-organisms or radionuclides can pose a public health risk. Cefas provides advice on management strategies to reduce these risks, targeted at identifying sources of contamination and reducing contaminant levels in the environment.
We provide assessments for; food poisoning micro-organisms, human enteric viruses, bacteria, algal toxins, radionuclides and organic and inorganic contaminants.
We provide, and can advise on the setting up of rapid response emergency monitoring and evaluation teams to deal with emergencies such as contamination of fish and shellfish harvesting areas due to oil spills.
Expertise
Cefas is the European Reference Laboratory for monitoring bacteriological and viral contamination of bivalve molluscs. We can advise on the development and operation of the sanitary requirements demanded by the European Commission.
Our training course develop the practical skills needed to manage and minimise health risks from contaminated seafood.
Our services include:
- Sampling programme design for monitoring biotoxins
- Bioassays for detecting toxins in shellfish
- Assessment of viral contamination in shellfish
- Investigating outbreaks of viral disease from consuming shellfish
- Managing impacts of oil spills and other contaminants on harvesting areas
- Training in assessment techniques
