MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chemical residues in salmon farming

Increasingly strict standards governing chemical residues in seafood exports have prompted Chilean export industries to join forces to tackle the use of veterinary medicines in salmon production.

Collaboration between the Chilean public and private sectors to help the salmon export process was demonstrated by the recent meeting attended by executives from the Salmon Industry Association (SalmonChile), Agriculture and Livestock Service (SAG) Director-General Carlos Parra Merino, National Fisheries Service (Sernapesca) Director-General Sergio Mujica, and representatives from the Veterinary Pharmaceutical Laboratories Association (Alavet).

The experts recognised the need for stricter controls throughout the farming and production process in response to the strict standards on chemical residues in foodstuffs demanded by the Free Trade agreements with the US and the European Union.

The issue was highlighted by the discovery of leucomalachite residue by the Dutch Health Service officials in three 180 tonne consignments of Chilean salmon. This substance was used extensively as a fungicide during the early stages of the fish life cycle by aquaculture industries worldwide until it was banned due to concerns over the risk to human health.

Following the meeting, the Chilean Ministry of Agriculture confirmed that SAG - the body responsible for registering all veterinary medicines available in the country - did "not allow the import, manufacture, or sale of veterinary medicines that have not been previously registered by this service".

Carlos Parra Merino told Aqua Noticias that the aim was to use only those substances that were guaranteed safe and innocuous, not only for the fish "but also for human health".

He said a list of all the authorised veterinary medicines would soon be available on the SAG web site at: www.sag.gob.cl. There will also be a second list showing all products that are currently undergoing the authorisation process. The use of any substance that is not mentioned on either list will be considered illegal by the authorities. (FIS/MP).-