Fish product surveys published
Thursday 4 May 2006
The Agency has published two surveys on metals and dioxins in processed fish and shellfish products.
The surveys covered 165 samples of fish products, ranging from fish fingers and fishcakes to fish and shellfish pastes and ready meals, bought across the UK and including internet sales. None of the results suggest that there is any need for people to change their diets.
The Agency advice remains that everyone should be eating at least two portions of fish a week, including one of oily fish.
The first survey looked for dioxins and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). These are chemicals that get into our food from the environment. They have no immediate effect on our health but can cause problems if they are absorbed into our bodies at high levels for long periods.
The highest concentrations of dioxins and PCBs were found in oily fish and crab-based products, as has been found in previous work, but none were over the European Union legal limits.
In the second survey, the same products were analysed for metals and other elements: aluminium, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, iron, lead, manganese, mercury, nickel, selenium, thallium, tin and zinc. They can be present naturally in the environment but can also accumulate as a result of human activity.
All results were below the legal limits, except for one can of tuna, which was close to the limit for cadmium. Levels of cadmium were generally found to very high in crab meat and other shellfish. However, taking into account the low consumption of these foods, these levels would not give consumers an intake high enough to be a concern.
High levels of mercury were found in samples of tuna and swordfish but these were consistent with earlier studies. The Agency continues to advise that pregnant women, women trying for a baby and children under 16 should avoid eating shark, swordfish and marlin, and should limit the amount of tuna they eat to no more than two fresh tuna steaks or four medium-sized cans per week.