A French agency has proposed a guideline value to protect consumers of shellfish from a group of marine biotoxins.
The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) said brevetoxins (BTX) were first detected in mussels in Corsica in 2018. If ingested by humans, these toxins can cause neurological, gastrointestinal or cardiovascular symptoms.
After this finding a few years ago, ANSES was asked by the Directorate General for Food (DGAL) and Directorate General for Health (DGS) to propose a guideline value to protect the health of people who eat shellfish. The agency has published an opinion and report on the subject in French.
Based on reports of food poisoning in other countries, ANSES has set a guideline value to protect consumers of products such as oysters and mussels. This value is 180 µg/kg of shellfish flesh, expressed in BTX-3 equivalents, with BTX-3 being the form of brevetoxin used as the reference.
FoodWorld 