Scientific Opinion on the minimum hygiene criteria to be applied to clean seawater and on the public health risks and hygiene criteria for bottled seawater intended for domestic use

Abstract

Document VersionPublisher's PDF, also known as Version of record SUMMARYFollowing a request from the European Commission, the Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) and the Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) were asked deliver a scientific opinion on the minimum hygiene criteria to be applied to clean seawater and on the public health risks and hygiene criteria for bottled seawater intended for domestic use.European food legislation establishes the conditions for the use of clean seawater in land-based fishery establishments. Currently, the use of clean seawater is allowed for use in on-shore establishments, auctions and fish markets, for the handling and washing of fishery products, the production of ice for chilling fishery products and for rapid cooling of crustaceans and molluscs after their cooking. Nonetheless, there are no harmonised rules in the European legislation with regard to the sanitary criteria that clean seawater should respect.Based on incidents of food and waterborne infection, the properties and the distribution of the agents, microbiological hazards (including viruses, bacteria and parasites) have been associated with seawater. Poor quality sea water may consequently have a severe impact on public health through contamination which may occur during food processes. The hazards are associated either with bacteria, which are part of the natural marine biota (in particular Vibrio spp.), or pathogenic microbes derived from animal or human faecal contamination, which is most often of terrestrial origin. Nonetheless, there is currently not sufficient data on microbiological hazards to estimate the public health risks associated with the uses in on-land establishments for handling and washing fishery products, for the production of ice used for chilling, for rapid cooling of crustaceans and molluscs after cooking, and for bottled seawater. In the absence of data to propose risk-based criteria, hazard-based criteria are proposed instead. These should provide the same level of health protection as achieved by other food business operators through the use of potable water.It is underlined that coastal sources, used for abstraction of seawater in land-based establishments, cannot be guaranteed to be free from pathogens from the marine biota or from faecal contamination, and cannot be classified as a pristine source.Sanitary surveys provide information to optimize the site of abstraction in order to control sources of faecal pollution and chemical contamination. Additional safeguards will be needed to reduce contamination from endogenous marine flora (including pathogenic Vibrio spp. and C. botulinum). Since these hazards are associated with temperature and salinity (Vibrio spp.) as well as sediments (C. botulinum), abstracting seawater with high salinity (especially in waters of temperatures below 20 ºC), and free from particulate material will improve safety of seawater prior to treatment. The comprehensiveness of the sanitary survey, the stringency of microbiological criteria and the nee...

The use of the so‐called ‘tubs’ for transporting and storing fresh fishery products

“…For this, the storage time and the concentration of CO 2 in the packaging headspace need to be adjusted accordingly. The report provides several scenarios equivalent to storage at 0°C, consisting of combinations of storage temperature, shelf-life and CO 2 concentration in the package (EFSA, 2015).…”

“…For uses with a higher exposure, a more comprehensive sanitary survey, mandatory water treatment and microbiological criteria based on Council Directive 98/83/EC 8 with an additional criterion for Vibrio spp. are considered appropriate (EFSA BIOHAZ and CONTAM Panel, 2015). Low exposure could be considered when using seawater to fill the tubs on-board, while high exposure could be considered when seawater is in contact with prepared, processed and/or ready-to-eat (RTE) fishery products.…”

“…report of human cases or outbreaks) associated with fishery products. Only hazards for which evidence of association to human cases or outbreaks was not already available for previous scientific report (EFSA, 2015) were included in the search. For these hazards, further evidence was retrieved through non-systematic literature review.…”

“…Seawater and freshwater temperatures vary significantly depending on many factors (e.g. season, latitude, depth, freshwater sources or oceanographic currents) and EU waters range from~4°C (north) to 25°C or higher (south) (EFSA, 2015).…”

“…The listing of the biological hazards (including histidine-decarboxylase bacteria and the consequent histamine accumulation) associated with FFP was based on the scientific opinion (EFSA BIOHAZ and CONTAM Panel, 2015) and report (EFSA, 2015) summarised in Section 1.3.1.1 and considered hazards potentially present in FFP, including fishes, crustacea, cephalopods and sea urchins. Bivalve shellfish were not considered as they are sold either live or frozen.…”