Norway is the largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon in the world, and the EU is its principal export market for fresh salmon products.
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The Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet) has announced that the results from the monitoring program which looks for environmental contaminants, drug residues, and illegal substances in farmed fish are "good".
In 2023, the 1,815 samples of farmed fish collected by Mattilsynet did not exceed the limit values. This program is part of a larger EU-mandated monitoring program for all animal food products and is analyzed by the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research.
"As part of the work to ensure safe farmed fish, Mattilsynet annually collects samples from farmed fish at fish farms and salmon slaughterhouses across the country," explained Are Sletta, Head of Chemical Food Safety at Mattilsynet.
The entry of environmental toxins per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) into food is inevitable since they are present in the environment. Some limit values for four different PFASs were seen in fish but only two were found in measurable amounts and below the set limit values.
Regarding this, Sletta clarified: "Intake of PFAS through food and drinking water does not cause acute negative health effects, but certain PFAS substances remain in the body for a long time and long-term consumption of PFAS can affect health. Therefore, Mattilsynet wants the content in food and drink to be as low as possible."
Moreover, since the monitoring program started in 1997, no environmental toxins or use of illegal substances have been found above the set limit values in farmed fish, and according to Mattilsynet, the levels of several environmental toxins have decreased year by year due to more plant-based feed and less marine feed presence.
"There has never been any detection of antibiotics or medicines used against internal parasites. Residues of sea lice treatments have also been found in some previous samples, but all have been well below the limit values," Sletta added.