Summary Report on 2020 Residue Monitoring of Irish Farmed Finfish & 2020 Border Inspection Post Fishery Product Testing undertaken at the Marine Institute

Abstract

As with other farmed animals, farmed finfish can be subject to disease and infestation which can have animal welfare, environmental and commercial implications. Therefore, authorised veterinary medicines and treatments may be used, and sometimes must be used, to control disease and infestation as part of health control plans e.g. antibacterial and antiparasitic treatments. The National Residues Control Plan (NRCP) sets out the monitoring requirements for residues in animal products in accordance with Official Control Regulation 2017/625 and Annexes of Council Directive 96/23/EC of 29 April 1996 on measures to monitor certain substances and residues thereof in animals and animal products. Under EU legislation (Article 19 of Official Control Regulation (EU) 2017/625, each member state is required to implement a residue monitoring plan and to submit their programmes annually to the European Commission for approval. Ireland’s National Residue Control Programme (NRCP) for 2020 was approved by the European Commission. On behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine (DAFM), the Marine Institute carries out monitoring of chemical residues for aquaculture. The main objectives of the NRCP for Aquaculture are to ensure farmed fish are fit for human consumption, to provide a body of data showing that Irish farmed fish is of high quality, to promote good practices in aquaculture and to comply with Official Control Regulation 2017/625 and Annexes of EU Directive 96/23/EC. In 2020, in excess of 626 tests and a total of 1,888 measurements were carried out on 120 samples of farmed finfish for a range of residues. Implementation of the Aquaculture 2020 Plan involves taking samples at both farm and processing plant: * 80 target samples taken at harvest: 70 farmed salmon and 10 freshwater trout. * 40 target samples were taken at other stages of production: 30 salmon smolts and 10 freshwater trout. All 2020 samples were compliant. For target sampling of farmed fish, a summary table of the residue results from 2005 - 2020 is outlined in Table 1. Overall, the outcome for aquaculture remains one of consistently low occurrence of residues in farmed finfish, with no non-compliant target residues results for the period 2006-2014, 0.11% and 0.10% non-compliant target residues results in 2015 and 2016 respectively and no non-compliant target results for the period 2017 to 2020.