FoodProductionDaily.com reported earlier this week that the article published in the journal Science, which claimed to be 'the most comprehensive analysis to date of salmon toxin concentrations,' found levels of harmful dioxins and PCBs that were significantly elevated in both European and North American farm-raised salmon when compared with wild Pacific salmon.
But the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) responded swiftly by arguing that the levels of dioxins and PCBs found in farmed salmon during the US led study were within World Health Organisation and EU guidelines.
"This study shows that the levels of dioxins and PCBs in salmon are within internationally recognised safety limits and confirms previous studies by the FSA," said agency chairman Sir John Krebs. "This study shows that the levels of dioxins and PCBs in salmon are within internationally recognised safety limits and confirms previous studies by the FSA. Our advice is that people should consume at least two portions of fish a week, one of which should be oily like salmon."
Now the EU has entered the fray by throwing its weight behind the FSA. EU health and consumer protection commissioner David Byrne said: "We agree with the assessment made by the UK FSA that the levels [of chemicals] in our European salmon do not exceed EU limits."Interestingly, supermarkets in the UK have reported that the latest food scare has not deterred most shoppers, and said that sales had actually risen in some outlets.
The contradictory advice from the US scientists and from the UK and EU authorities reflects a differing view of how to assess food safety. The North American study assumes that any level of exposure to dioxins carries with it some risk, however small, of developing cancer. British and EU scientists accept the World Health Organisation assessment that, provided exposure to dioxins is kept below a certain threshold, there will be no adverse effect to health.
The Scottish salmon industry has accused the American researchers of being 'deliberately misleading'. Dr John Webster, a technical consultant for the industry body Scottish Quality Salmon, said that the research had ignored all the benefits of eating oil-rich farmed salmon on a regular basis.
The controversy is not the first to raise questions about the safety of farmed salmon. A year ago the European Commission moved to reduce the amount of one additive, canthaxanthin, which can be used to exaggerate salmon's pink colouring. That followed evidence that high intake of the chemical could affect human eyesight.