Various Information Relating to Steroids in Scottish and Irish Salmon since January 2024

Your request was about the following information:

Please provide information on steroids in Scottish and Irish salmon since January 2024.

Please include letters, emails, certificates, refusals, rejections, inspection reports, data, photos, videos, warnings, alerts and any other information relating to steroids in Scottish and Irish salmon since January 2024.

Please include specific details on the company farming the Atlantic salmon, the distributor, the processor, country of origin, fish labelling and any other product information relating to any alerts, warnings, RASFF Notifications or any other notifications regarding steroids in Scottish and Irish salmon since January 2024.

As context, RASFF 'Notification 2024.6761 - Steroid detected in Salmo salar from UK' (Please see attached) - was notified by the European Commission in September 2024 via

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/709606

RASFF 'Notification 2024.6772 - IOC sampling for steroids not undertaken on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) from the United Kingdom' (Please see attached) was notified by the European Commission in September 2024 via https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/710182

The two RASFF notifications (Please see attached) listed above appear in a Google search - along with a now deleted article published by Digicomply: https://www.digicomply.com/food-safety-incidents/steroids-and-related-substances-has-been-detected-in-varieties-of-salmon

The attached FOI disclosure by the Food Standards Agency dated yesterday cited RASFF 'Notification 2024.6761 - Steroid detected in Salmo salar from UK' - notified by the European Commission in September 2024 via

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/709606

However, the FSA's FOI disclosure (Please see attached) - available online via https://donstaniford.typepad.com/files/food-standards-foi-00146-response-april.pdf - only disclosed the following details but at least the FSA indicated that the steroid-contaminated salmon was from Scotland.

Please therefore provide information held by your agency - which may well include discussions, emails, letters and other correspondence with other agencies, salmon farming companies, distributors, processors, importers and other stakeholders - relating to steroids in Scottish and Irish salmon since January 2024.

Your FOI reply may also include information pertaining to any explanation how 'Anabolic-androgenic steroids' - as detailed via RASFF 'Notification 2024.6761 - Steroid detected in Salmo salar from UK' published online via https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/709606 - was found via sampling in Scottish salmon and how the 'serious' risk decision published by the European Commission was assessed.

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Food Standards Scotland (FSS) does not hold the information you have requested.