Results of sanitary-veterinary examination of fish in Poland in 2010-2016

Abstract

Fish and other fishery products are subjected to the official sanitary-veterinary controls as required by Regulation (EC) No 854/2004. The aim of the study was to analyse the results of sanitary-veterinary examinations of fish in Poland in 2010-2016 conducted by the Veterinary Inspection. The results of the laboratory examination on fish were worked out based on the annual reports issued by the General Veterinary Inspectorate. The analysis of the results included the sanitary-veterinary examination of marine and farmed fish (salmonids, cyprinids and other fish species) carried out by the Veterinary Inspection. Moreover, the sanitary evaluation of samples of fish, seafood and their products on the basis of microbiological, chemical and sensory analysis results performed by the State Sanitary Inspection (PIS) were used. Throughout the analyzed period, a total of 1 436 109 009.60 kg of fish were examined, in that 145 711.71 kg (0.01%) were declared unfit for human consumption. The most important reasons for fish rejection proved to be parasite invasions (45.91% of the total amount of discarded fish), viral diseases (41.74%), bacterial diseases (9.71%) and the exceeded acceptable level of histamine (2.56%) and dioxins (0.07%). The sanitary examination of the food samples carried out by the PIS showed that the causes of rejection included the surpassed levels of food additives (2.3-2.7% of all the discarded samples) and chemical contaminants (1.4-2.4%) as well as abnormal microbiological and sensory tests results (0.1-1.2%). Summing up, the amount of fish rejected during the analyzed period was low which indicates the good quality of the obtained raw material.