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Press Release from The Salmon Farm Protest Group:
http://www.salmonfarmmonitor.org
This week's Committee on Toxicity report identifies fresh farmed salmon as the worst of "the worst-case occurrences of multiples pesticide residues" of all foodstuffs in terms of contamination of DDT, dieldrin and hexachlorobenzene [2]. The COT report also refers to a survey by the Pesticide Residues Committee which found DDT, hexachlorobenzene and chlordane in 99% of fresh farmed salmon [3]. Contaminated farmed salmonwas bought last year in supermarkets across England, Scotland and Wales, including*:
Asda (Brighton, Canterbury, Dundee, Gateshead, Liverpool, Llandudno, Wheatley) M&S (Shoreham in Sussex, Eltham High St in London)
Morrisons (Small Heath in Birmingham, Pontefract)
Safeway (Dundee, Malvern, Plymouth, Sheffield)
Sainsbury's (Bamber Bridge, Hove, Leeds, London, Norwich, Oxford, Sheffield)
Tesco (Chorley, Dundee, Liverpool, Llandudno, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Plymouth, Rotherhithe, Shoreham, Worcester)
Waitrose (Finchley Rd in London, Malvern, Thame in Oxfordshire)
* For a full list of the 73 samples of fresh salmon sampled with names of supermarkets and addresses see Note 3 or go direct to the Pesticides Residues Committee data:
http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/committees/PRC/fourthq2001rev1/q4annexrev1.pdf
Don Staniford, SFPG member and author of "The Five Fundamental Flaws of Sea Cage Fish Farming" (available directly on The Salmon Farm Monitor:
http://www.salmonfarmmonitor.org/problems.html), said:
"Farmed salmon is the worst of the worst of all contaminated foods on our supermarket shelves. According to the Pesticides Residues Committee fresh farmed salmon is four times more contaminated than canned wild salmon (99% compared to 24%). Clearly customers should be choosing canned salmon rather than fresh salmon and that means steering clear of contaminated farmed salmon and 'going wild'. So-called Scottish 'quality' salmon is a sham, a scam and a consumer con: it is not Scottish (ca. 80% of production is controlled by Norway and the Netherlands), quality was sacrificed for quantity a long time ago (140,000 tonnes of farmed Scottish salmon were produced in 2001 compared to 30,000 in 1990 and less than 1,000 in 1980) and the flabby farmed freak sold cheaply by supermarkets is a poor relation to its wild distant cousin - a couch potato compared to the King of Fish"
"Risk Assessment of Mixtures of Pesticides and Similar Substances" was published last week by the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment:
http://www.food.gov.uk/science/ouradvisors/toxicity/reports/cocktailreport
Table A3.2 (pp251-252) shows farmed salmon and trout as 100% contaminated with DDT, dieldrin and hexachlorobenzene; 54% contaminated with gamma-HCH and 17% with chlordane
The Pesticide Residues Committee tested 73 samples of fresh salmon (1 was marked as wild and the others were farmed; 60 were labelled as from the UK) between January and December 2001 and detected DDT residues in 97% of samples (71 out of 73 samples - the wild sample was a negative: if this is removed then residues were found in 99% of samples - 71 out of 72) with 44% (32 samples) containing multiple residues (DDT, hexachlorobenzene and chlordane). In comparison, wild canned salmon was much less contaminated with 24% (26 out of 108 samples) containing DDT and only 1% (1 sample) containing multiple residues (DDT and hexachlorobenzene). This information is presented in Table B (p5), Table 16 (pp356-369) and Table 17 (pp370-379). A commentary (pp29-31) includes the following:
"A total of 73 samples of fresh salmon were tested for 10 organochlorine pesticides. Residues were found in 71 (97%) of the samples tested. Samples originated as follows: 60 were of UK origin. 1 imported sample and 12 of unknown origin. Residues of chlordane, DDT and hexachlorobenzene were found: chlordane was found in 13 (18%) samples ranging from 0.002 to 0.006 mg/kg; DDT was found in 71 (97%) samples ranging from 0.003 to 0.04 mg/kg; hexachlorobenzene was found in 31 (42%) samples ranging from 0.002 to 0.003 mg/kg...Two organic samples were tested and were found to contain residues of DDT and hexachlorobenzene in one of them, and DDT in the other one. UKROFS have been informed of the results" (p30)
"The residues found in the fresh salmon are associated with the fat content of the fresh salmon. The Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) were asked to comment on these findings, and they note that the residue profile and the concentrations of the residues found are expected and not surprising. Contamination may arise from contaminated pelleted feed. Farmed salmon are reared on feed that is high in fish oils derived from a variety of sources e.g. capelin, sardine, herring, pilchard. The organochlorine content of the feed pellets would vary from batch to batch depending on the source of the fish oils and meal, but the feed can contain considerable levels. Thirty two (44%) samples were found to contain multiple residues, of up to 3"(p30)
"Previous survey results - Results 1997: A total of 14 samples of farmed fresh salmon were taken in 1997 and tested for 9 organochlorine pesticides. Chlordane, gamma-HCH, DDT, hexachlorobenzene and dieldrin residues were found. All (100%) of the samples of salmon contained one or more residues, up to 4 multiple residues. All the samples were of UK origin" (p31)
http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/committees/PRC/fourthq2001rev1/q4rep-01rev1.pdf
http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/committees/PRC/fourthq2001rev1/q4sumtabsrev1.pdf
The PRC report - Pesticide Residues Monitoring Report Fourth Quarter Results
(October-December 2001) - is can be downloaded also from:
http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/committees/PRC/2001.htm
An appendix lists all samples of canned and fresh salmon tested last year by the PRC:
http://www.pesticides.gov.uk/committees/PRC/fourthq2001rev1/q4annexrev1.pdf
The list includes [data presented as retail outlet, address, date of sampling, description, country of origin, pesticide residues found]
Asda, Canterbury in Kent (25.09.01): Salmon fillets (UK) - DDT (0.008)
Asda, Aintree in Liverpool (25.09.01): Salmon fillets (UK) - DDT (0.009)
Asda, Dundee (24.07.01): Salmon tail fillets (UK) - DDT (0.005)
Asda, Wheatley in Oxon (21.08.01): Salmon rollback steaks (UK) - DDT
(0.02), HCB (0.003), Chlordane (0.002)
Asda, Hollingbury in Brighton (21.08.01): Salmon steaks (Unknown) - DDT
(0.0009)
Asda, Clayton Green in Preston (26.06.01): Scottish salmon fillets (UK)
- DDT (0.008)
Asda, Llandudno (30.10.01): Salmon fillets (Unknown) - DDT (0.02), HCB
(0.003)
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