is any sea animal or plant that is served as food and eaten by humans. Seafood include seawater animals and aquaculture products, such as fish and shellfish (including molluscs and crustaceans). 

are filter feeding lamellibranches molluscs and include oysters, mussels, clams, cockles and scallops. 

include crustaceans (such as prawns, lobsters, crayfish, crabs and shrimps), all cephalopods (such as octopus, squid and cuttlefish) and aquaculture products (such as farmed salmon, trout, prawns or shrimps), but not mammals such as dolphins and whales. 

Endangered species,
Poisonous fishery products (e.g. Tetraodontidae,

Molidae, Diodontidae and Canthigasteridae). Tasteless products,
Illegal fishing (e.g. use of explosives or chemicals), Fishery products from polluted areas. 

Production areas (A, B and C):

A- go straight for human consumption

B- go to purification centre

C- go for relaying 2mo. 

– Purification centre- may use Uv light
– Relaying (2 months)
– Processing establishment

– Dispatch centre

Registration documents:

– Traceability
– Health Status
– Identification Mark 

Freshness and viability:

– Clean
– Intravalvular liquid- sensitive to dehydration

– Percussion
– Cooking

Free of marine biotoxins
Meet microbiological criteria Storage temperature and conditions 

Hygiene Requirements for fishing vessels.

Immediate evisceration (if applicable).

Chilling at temperature approaching that of melting ice (0°C).

If frozen, must be kept at a temperature of not more than ‐18°C.

HACCP Controls. 

• Curren tEuropean legislation(WATOK)requiresthatall farmed animals are spared avoidable suffering and pain and covers all vertebrates including fish.

  
  

• Humanelykilledfishattractsahigherpremiumandis of better quality than conventionally killed fish.

  
  

• Themethodusedtokillfishwilldependonthespecies as well as the resources available to the fish farmers. 

  
  

   

  • Traditional methods of killing fish are considered inhumane as they cause the fish to suffer unnecessary stress and pain:

    – Live gutting, gill cutting and severing the spinal cord, 

    – Suffocation (in air or on ice),
    – Hypothermia (death in ice slurry) and
    – Carbon dioxide narcosis.

  • The welfare of fish during harvest also includes the pre‐ slaughter handling processes. When fish are handled in a rough manner, they exhibit their stress response and this may result in some reduction in product quality:

    – Food withdrawal (fasting), – Crowding and
    – Removal from water. 

Withdrawal of food:

• 72 hours is adequate for the complete emptying of the fish gut whilst minimising adverse welfare effects. Fish should not be fasted for longer than 72 hours.

•

Crowding:

Oxygen availability and general water quality decrease rapidly.

The fish are brought closer to the surface thus increasing their exposure to sunlight.

There is an increased risk of damage from abrasion through contact with nets or other fish.

When fish are crowded too densely, they show vigorous burrowing, gasping and splashing. 

A good crowd is calm with only the occasional fins breaking the surface. Fish should only be crowded for a maximum of 2 hours. 

• Inexpensive manner to dispatch fish.

• A strike of sufficient energy to the head of a fish results in

  an immediate loss of sensibility.

• The blow should be targeted at a position where the brain is closest to the surface of the head and where the skull is at its thinnest.

• Percussive stunners may not be as effective when used on deformed fish, or those of a size other than that for which the machine was designed. Machines are currently available for stunning salmon and trout.

  
  

  Aneffectivelystunnedfishwill:

  • –  Immediately stop rhythmic movement of the opercula,

  • –  Stop the eye roll reflex,

  • –  If placed into water, it cannot maintain its balance and it may

    show muscular quivers,

  • –  Not be responsive to handling and will not exhibit escape responses. 

   

• An effectively stunned fish will:

• –  Immediately stop rhythmic movement of the opercula,

• –  Stop the eye roll reflex,

• –  If placed into water, it cannot maintain its balance and it may

  show muscular quivers,

• –  Not be responsive to handling and will not exhibit escape responses. 

• The general principle of electrical stunning is to pass sufficient current through the brain to cause an epileptic‐like fit.

• This may be achieved by directly applying electrodes across the fish's head or by exposing the fish to an electrified water‐bath. The latter method has the advantage that the fish can be processed in water and do not suffer as much from handling stress. On the other hand, in water stunning requires higher currents.

• The electrical parameters will vary depending on the species of the fish and the conductivity of the water.

• The effect of the electrical treatment will depend on the strength and duration of the current as well as the frequency of the electrical waveform.

  
  

  
  

  • The effects of electricity on fish range from immobilisation, narcosis to electrocution.

  • Low currents can result in the fish becoming immobilised by the tetanising effects of electrical stimulation. This is undesirable as the fish may experience pain or distress but are unable to express their condition due to the immobilisation.

  • Stunning with the correct parameters should result in the fish losing consciousness and sensibility to pain (narcosis). Some currents are of characteristics that results in the fish failing to recover consciousness (electrocution). This is desirable for animal welfare as it guarantees that the fish do not recover during subsequent processing. 

   

  
  

   

  • Useofincorrectelectricalparametersmaynotonly result in poor animal welfare, but may also result in poor product quality through haemorrhaging.

  • Electricalstunningasahumanemethodforkilling large numbers of fish for disease control. It is also possible to effectively stun deformed fish and flatfish. 

• List I diseases are those which a serious economic impact and are exotic to the EU, including:

  – Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISA)

• List II diseases are those which are present in the EU but approved zones and approved farms in non‐approved zones can be distinguished. These include:

  – Viral Haemorragic Septicimia (VHS)
  – Infectious Haematopoetic Necrosis (IHN)

• List III disease are those for which individual Member States can decide whether to put control measures in place or not, including:

  – Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis (IPN) – Bacterial Kidney Disease (BKD)
  – Furunculosis 

• Rarelytruezoonoses.

• Most result from contamination of food with toxin‐ producing or food poisoning organisms:

  – Usually associated with poor handling or storage (e.g. Norovirus).

• Fewerproblemsthanwithproductsfromwarm blooded animals:

  – Aquatic products rot quickly.

• Physicalhazardslikebones,scalesandhookscan be hazardous. 

• It is most commonly reported with mackerel, tuna, bluefish, mahi‐mahi, bonito, sardines, anchovies, and related species of fish that were inadequately refrigerated or preserved after being caught.

• Histidine exists naturally in many types of fish, and at temperatures above 16°C on air contact it is converted to the biogenic amine histamine by enteric bacteria (this is one reason why fish should be stored at low temperatures).

• Histamine is not destroyed by normal cooking temperatures, so even properly cooked fish can be affected.

• Histamine is a mediator of allergic reactions, so the symptoms produced are those one would expect to see in severe allergic responses. 

For fish intnded to be eaten raw: – Visual Inspection

•Cold treatments:

– ‐10°C for 24‐48 hours (FAO) – ‐ 20°C for 7 hours
– ‐ 40°C for 3 hours

• Heattreatment:
– Cooking @ 50°‐70°C for 10 minutes.

• Curing and smoking:
– Not effective in killing larves. 

– Occurs in range of species of fish

– Mostly in oily fish, salmon, herring and mackerel

– Normal final host marine mammals

– White worm <15mm
– Occurs in the muscle of fish or

migrates to the muscle after the

fish killed
– Rapid gutting will remove 50% 

To detect:
– Animal Health hazards:

• Notifiable diseases in nfish

• Fishpathology

– Public Health hazards:
• Anisakisandotherparasites
• Scombroid toxins
• Freshnessofproduct‐Sensoryevaluation(pathogens) •

Identificationandtraceability

– Commercial frauds:
• Identificationandtraceability
• Freshnessofproduct‐Sensoryevaluation(spoilage) • FreshvsFrozen
• Illegalfishing 

• Most fish are low in fat and carbohydrate; therefore, spoilage bacteria utilise nitrogenous compounds for growth rapidly leading to off‐ odours and flavours.

• 
  

  Amino acids, urea and Trimethylamine oxide (TMAO) are among the most important sources of Non‐Protein Nitrogen (NPN) utilised by bacteria which lead to the typical spoilage of fish. 

  
  

   

  • Fish contain little or no glycogen; therefore, post‐mortem glycolysis does not occur and there is no decrease in pH post‐ mortem (very short rigor mortis 30 minutes),

  • Molluscs do contain glycogen and undergo pH decrease post‐ mortem which influence the type of spoilage observed,

  • Some fish contain significant levels of fat around the muscle tissue. While this does not influence microbial spoilage, these polyunsaturated fats are far more prone to autogenous oxidation and rancidity than saturated animal fats,

  • Fish proteins are less stable than mammalian proteins and more likely to undergo autogenous proteolysis.

    
    

    • As with meat, the deep muscle tissues of freshly caught fish are considered sterile.

    • Source of spoilage organisms: – Skin and Slime layer
      – Gills
      – Intestine

      – Processing environment

    • Water temperature influences flora

    • Effect of evisceration, bruising etc.

    • Temperature control will slow down psychrotrophs

      
      

      ‘Fishy’ odour – TMAO
      • Shewanella putrefaciens 

      • Crustaceans&molluscs

      – Transport live
      • Shucked molluscs

      – Glycolysis – LAB spoilage • Vacuum packing

      – No major advantage 

     

  
  

Imports?

Origin?

Traceability?

Farmed or wild?

Fresh or frozen?

Out of date products exposed for sale.

Unauthorized fishing? – Species
– Methods