Request
Please provide information on contaminants, pesticides & other chemicals in farmed salmon since 1st January 2017.
Please include any data, testing, results, surveys, emails, letters, reports and other information relating to contaminants, pesticides and other chemicals in farmed salmon since Ist January 2017.
Response
Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has not commissioned any food sampling work since 1 January 2017 which has specifically targeted salmon or salmon products (farmed or wild). It is important to note that it is the responsibility of food business operators to demonstrate the safety of their products and it is not within FSS’s remit to undertake routine chemical sampling of food. Food sampling is undertaken by Local Authorities (LAs) as a means of verifying that food producers are complying with food safety legislation. FSS collects LA sampling data centrally on the Scottish Food Sampling Database, however this data is not broken down in a way that would allow Scottish farmed salmon products to be distinguished from wild salmon.
The data held on the Scottish Food Sampling Database from 1st January 2017 to 29th October 2020 shows that a total of 174 samples of salmon products were subjected to chemical testing. Of these samples, 18 were found to be unsatisfactory, all of which were ready to eat processed salmon products – smoked salmon. The 18 unsatisfactory results were due to content constituents such as water activity, salt and pH. There were no unsatisfactory results due to contaminants, pesticides and other chemicals. It is important to note that these results would have been followed up by Local Authorities and appropriate action taken to ensure the public was protected from any potential risks.
