Seafood Residue Testing
As global food demand grows, producers of farm raised seafood like shrimp and salmon are turning to cheap antimicrobial products to increase profits. Aside from this, natural events cause accumulation of toxins in shellfish. These factors lead to unsafe marine products.
Ensure that your seafood is safe for human consumption. We could help you in achieving that with our wide array of uncompromising seafood residue testing systems. Let us know about your seafood residue testing concerns by giving us a call or e-mail. A member of our technical team will attend to you shortly.
Here are some of the most common contaminants:
HISTAMINE. Histamine is a cause of allergic reactions in humans, histamine poisoning can have effects ranging from mild skin discomfort to nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Histamine is product of bacterial degradation of susceptible fish species.
SULFITES. Sulfiting agents are used with shrimp, lobster and related crustaceans to prevent melanosis (a.k.a. “blackspot”). While sulfiting agents are very beneficial to the seafood industry, some consumers are highly allergic to sulfite residues in food. For this reason, US FDA regulations state that seafood containing sulfite residues of 10 ppm or more must be labeled as containing sulfites.
MARINE BIOTOXINS. These are produced by certain kinds of microscopic algae (a type of phytoplankton) that are naturally present in marine waters, normally in amounts too small to be harmful. Here are the most common marine biotoxins according to FAO:
- Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP). Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) in humans is caused by ingestion of shellfish containing saxitoxins. These toxins are accumulated in shellfish feeding on toxin-producing algae. Symptoms of human PSP intoxication vary from a slight tingling or numbness to complete respiratory paralysis. In fatal cases, respiratory paralysis occurs within 2 to 12 hours of consumption of the PSP contaminated food.
- Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP). In humans, it is caused by the ingestion of contaminated bivalves such as mussels, scallops, oysters or clams. The fat soluble okadaic acid and its derivatives accumulate in the fatty tissue of the bivalves. DSP symptoms are diarrhea, nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain starting 30 minutes to a few hours after ingestion and complete recovery occurs within three days.
- Amnesic shellfish poisoning (ASP). It is also known as domoic acid poisoning (DAP). It was first recognized in 1987 in Prince Edward Island, Canada. At this time, ASP caused three deaths and 105 cases of acute human poisoning following the consumption of blue mussels. The symptoms included abdominal cramps, vomiting, disorientation and memory loss (amnesia).