Quality of cured and smoked salmon and trout generally good

NIFES has analysed 70 smoked or cured salmon and trout products from leading retailers and manufacturers in Norway. None of the products contained concentrations of undesirable substances above the EU’s maximum levels, and the microbiological quality of the products was generally good. Three samples had elevated histamine content above the EU`s maximum level.

In the project “Undesirable substances in processed seafood products 2007”, NIFES has analysed the content of undesirable substances in, and the microbiological quality of different smoked or cured salmon and trout products for consumption in the domestic marked. The analyses were carried out at the request from the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. The seafood products were tested for a number of undesirable substances, including cadmium, mercury, methyl mercury, lead, PCBs, DDT, sum dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs and brominated flame retardants.

“The content of undesirable substances was below the EU maximum level (where limits have been set) in all the examined products. For other undesirable substances, contents were found to be at about the same level as in fresh salmon filets, i.e. within the normal range,” says Kåre Julshamn, who has been in charge of the analysis work. Julshamn is Head of Research at the Surveillance Research Programme at NIFES.

No Listeria monocytogenes

In cold waters, L. monocytogenes represents the main microbiological challenge in connection with production of safe seafood. L. monocytogenes is a bacterium that occasionally may cause the disease listeriosis among humans. In this project, L. monocytogenes was not detected in any of the 70 samples of processed seafood products examined.

Slightly elevated histamine levels

High concentrations of histamine in food can cause allergy like symptoms in humans. Histamine is a biogenic amine and is produced by certain bacteria from the amino acid histidine present in food. In this project, 35 samples were tested for histamine. Of these, 30 samples had a histamine content below the general level of 100 mg/kg, two samples had concentrations between the general and the maximum level of 200 mg/kg, and three samples had a histamine content above the maximum level. The highest concentration found was 370 mg/kg.

Histamin may be produced in some types of fish dependent on storage routines.

Many tonnes consumed in Norway

Most of the salmon and trout produced in Norway are exported, but a fair amount is consumed on the domestic Norwegian market. In 2006, 1687 tonnes of smoked salmon, 127 tonnes of cured salmon, 272 tonnes of smoked trout and 184 tonnes of fermented or cured trout were sold in Norway.

NIFES performs annual tests

Each year, the National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES) analyses various processed seafood products found on the Norwegian market for the Norwegian Food Safety Authority. In 2006 and 2005 herring and mackerel products were tested for a number of chemical and microbiological parameters.