Alan Reilly

Prevention and control of hazards in seafood

Abstract Seafood is high on the list of foods transmitting disease. However, the food safety issues are highly focussed and more than 80% of all seafood-borne outbreaks are related to biotoxins (ciguatoxin), scombrotoxin or the consumption of raw molluscan shellfish. The safety hazards in seafood production are listed and discussed. It is pointed out that there are serious safety concerns related to the consumption of raw fish and shellfish due to the presence of biological (bacteria, virus, parasites) and chemical (biotoxins) hazards. These hazards are present in the fish and shellfish pre-harvest and are difficult or impossible to control by applying presently available preventive measures. In contrast, the hazards related to contamination, recontamination or survival of biological hazards during processing are well-defined and can be controlled by applying Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Good Hygiene Practice (GHP) and a well designed HACCP-programme. Similarly, the means to prevent the growth of pathogenic microorganisms during distribution and storage of the final products are – with a few exceptions – available. Proper application of well-known preservative parameters including temperature is able to control growth of most pathogens. When this is not the always case, for example inhibition of Listeria monocytogenes in lightly preserved fish products, it is recommended to limit the stated shelf-life of these products to a period of no-growth for the pathogen of concern. There is a good agreement between the trends shown in disease statistics, the hazard analysis and the qualitative risk assessment of the various fish products. It is recommended that consumers should be informed of the risk of eating raw seafood – particularly molluscan shellfish and certain freshwater fish.

Epidemiology of human listeriosis and seafoods

While rarely diagnosed prior to 1960, more than 10,000 cases of listeriosis were recorded in the medical literature between 1960 and 1982, and thousands more have been reported annually world-wide [Rocourt J., 1991. Human listeriosis, 1989. WHO/HPP/FOS/91.3, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland; Rocourt, J., Brosch, R., 1992. Human listeriosis, 1990. WHO/HPP/FOS/92.3, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland; Rocourt, J., Jacquet, Ch., Bille, J., 1997. Human listeriosis, 1991/1992. WHO/FNU/FOS/97.1, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland]. This widespread increase in reporting is most likely due to demographic trends and changes in food production, processing and storage, especially the extended cold food chain and the ability of Listeria monocytogenes to grow at low temperatures: L. monocytogenes is a bacterium responsible for opportunistic infections, preferentially affecting individuals whose immune system is perturbed, including pregnant women, newborns, people over 65 years, immunocompromised patients, such as cancer victims, transplant recipients, people on hemodialysis and AIDS patients. Thus, the increasing lifespan and medical progress allowing immunodeficient individuals to survive, partially explains the increasing incidence of listeriosis. Moreover, L. monocytogenes is ubiquitous and can grow at temperatures as low as 0 degrees C. At this temperature growth is very slow. The expansion of the agro-food industry, the widespread use of systems of cold storage and changes in consumers demands have led to a large increase in the pool of Listeria that can cause foodborne infections.

Food safety and products from aquaculture

Aquaculture is currently one of the fastest growing food production systems in the world with production increasing at an average rate of ***9·6% per year over the past decade. As world fish stocks are reaching the limits of exploitation, we shall rely to a far greater extent on products from aquaculture as food sources of high nutritional value. Approximately 90% of global aquaculture production is based in Asia, where it provides an important source of dietary animal protein of the region and income for millions of small‐scale farmers. Commercial aquaculture contributes significantly to the economies of many producing countries, where highly valued species are a major source of foreign.

Review of the effect of fermentation on naturally occurring toxins

Lesser developed countries require food processing technologies that are technologically appropriate, suitable for tropical regions and that are affordable in rural and urban economies. Household-level fermentation is one such technology that has been developed indigenously for a wide range of food commodities. These include cereals and legumes, root crops, fruit and vegetables, dairy products, fish and meat (Steinkraus, 1983, 1989; Campbell-Platt, 1987, 1994). As a unit operation in food processing, fermentation offers a large number of advantages, including: food preservation, improved food safety, enhanced flavour and acceptability, increased variety in the diet, improved nutritional value, reduction in anti-nutritional compounds and in some cases, improved functional properties. Fermentation is a very important low-cost food processing technique and a common means of preservation in lesser developed tropical countries (Cooke et al., 1987) where preservation techniques such as refrigeration, freezing, canning or modified atmosphere packaging are prohibitively expensive. Problems are compounded in communities with low levels of disposable incomes and where limited infrastructure available in the food processing industry greatly restricts the use of more advanced technologies.

Brominated and fluorinated organic pollutants in the breast milk of first-time Irish mothers: is there a relationship to levels in food?

Brominated flame retardants – polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) and others – have been measured in 11 pooled breast milk samples from 109 first-time mothers in Ireland. Additionally, the study has measured levels of polybrominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and furans (PBDD/Fs), mixed halogenated dioxins (PXCC/Fs) and biphenyls (PXBs), polychlorinated naphthalenes (PCNs) and perfluoroalkylated substances (PFAS) in these samples. The mean sum of 19 PBDEs including BDE-209 was 4.85 ng g−1 fat, which is comparable with that found in other European countries. BDE-47, BDE-153, BDE-209, BDE-99 and BDE-100 were found at the highest concentrations. The only PBBs detected consistently were BB-77, BB-126 and BB-153, with highest concentrations being found for BB-153 (mean = 0.13 ng g−1 fat). The mean sum of HBCD enantiomers was 3.52 ng g−1 fat, with α-HBCD representing over 70% of the total. Of the other brominated flame retardants – tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A), hexabromobenzene (HBB), decabromodiphenylethane (DBDPE) and bis(2,4,6-tribromophenoxyethane) (BTBPE) – examined, only TBBP-A was detected above the limit of detection (LOD), in two of the 11 pools analysed. All measured PBDF congeners were observed (at 0.02–0.91 pg g−1 fat), but 2,3,7,8-tetrabromo-dibenzodioxin (TeBDD) was the only PBDD detected, with a mean concentration of 0.09 pg g−1 fat. The occurrence of the mixed chlorinated/brominated dibenzodioxins, dibenzofurans and biphenyls, 2-B-3,7,8-CDD, 2,3-B-7,8-CDF, 4-B-2,3,7,8-CDF, PXB 105, PXB 118, PXB 126 and PCB 156 in breast milk in the current study may indicate that levels of these contaminants are increasing in the environment. Polychlorinated naphthalenes were detected in all samples, but not perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and other PFAS. The pattern of occurrence of these brominated and fluorinated persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in Irish breast milk shows a general relationship to their occurrence in food, as reported in a number of surveillance studies carried out by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Session 1: Public health nutrition. Folic acid food fortification: the Irish experience.

Adequate intake of folic acid by women during very early pregnancy can markedly reduce risk of the development of neural-tube defects (NTD). The effectiveness of advice to women to take folic acid supplements is limited, mainly because 50% of pregnancies are unplanned. However, mandatory folic acid food fortification programmes in North America have been very successful in reducing NTD rates. In Ireland higher rates of pregnancies are affected by NTD and the option of termination is illegal. Consequently, the much higher burden of disease makes primary prevention of NTD an important public health issue in Ireland. During 2006 a decision was taken in Ireland to initiate mandatory folic acid fortification of most bread to prevent NTD. Priority work was immediately undertaken to establish reliable and comprehensive baseline information on factors that will be affected by fortification. This information included data on: the national prevalence of pregnancies affected by NTD; the current extent of voluntary folic acid fortification of food on the Irish market and how it affects folic acid intakes; blood folate status indicators assessed for various subgroups of the Irish population. In addition, scientific developments that have arisen since 2006 relating to the risks and benefits of folic acid intake are under ongoing review. The present paper summarises the rationale for mandatory folic acid food fortification in Ireland and recent scientific developments relating to risks and benefits of folic acid intake. In this context, preliminary findings of baseline monitoring investigations in Ireland are considered.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in breast milk of first-time Irish mothers: impact of the 2008 dioxin incident in Ireland.

The 2008 dioxin incident in Ireland resulted in elevated concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), dibenzofurans (PCDFs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in Irish pork and pork products, due to the consumption of contaminated animal feed by pigs. In order to investigate any resulting impact on the Irish population, these contaminants were measured in pooled breast milk samples from 109 first-time mothers, collected in 2010. A comparison of the results with similar data from 2002 revealed generally lower concentrations of PCDD/Fs and dioxin-like PCBs in the 2010 samples, confirming the declining trend reported by many authors. Contaminant concentration levels for both 2002 and 2010 were generally slightly lower than those reported internationally, with a mean combined PCDD/F and PCB WHO-TEQ of 9.66pgg(-1)fat, for an overall pooled sample of milk from 2010. An apparent slight increase in PCDFs was observed between 2002 and 2010 (from 2.73pg WHO-TEQ g(-1)fat to 3.21pg WHO-TEQ g(-1)fat), with the main contributory congener being 2,3,4,7,8-PentaCDF. While it cannot be totally discounted that the slight increase in 2,3,4,7,8-PentaCDF and in the overall PCDF WHO-TEQ in breast milk could be attributable to consumption of Irish pork during the 2008 incident, we consider that it is more likely that this was due to other factors, including the predominantly urban/industrial sampling locations for the 2010 samples, compared to 2002.

Public Health Measures: Evaluation of the Efficacy of National Food Control Programs

This article addresses the evaluation of national food control programs (FCPs), which are designed and implemented to ensure a high level of public health protection with respect to the food supply in a particular country. The evaluation process should measure outputs from the FCP and the results achieved, and establish whether the system, activities, and/or processes as defined are fit for purpose and deliver satisfactory results. Evaluation of efficacy can be achieved by a number of approaches, and these techniques are elaborated. No evaluation tool is often sufficient in order to gauge efficacy due to their singularly narrow field of vision; however, collectively they can bring the true merits and performance of the FCP into sharper focus and allow objective assessments to be made.