Reports

Undesirable substances in seafood products– results from the monitoring activities in 2006

Published:

01/07/2008

Authors:

Ásta Margrét Ásmundsdóttir, Vordís Baldursdóttir, Sasan Rabieh, Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir

Supported by:

Ministry of fisheries

Undesirable substances in seafood products– results from the monitoring activities in 2006

In 2003, at the initiative of the Ministry of Fisheries, monitoring of undesirable substances in marine products began, both products intended for human consumption and products of the fish oil and flour industry. The purpose of the monitoring is to assess the condition of Icelandic marine products with regard to the amount of contaminants. The data collected in the monitoring project will also be used in risk assessments and to influence the setting of maximum levels for undesirable substances, for example in Europe. Coverage of contaminants in marine products, both in the mainstream media and in scientific journals, has many times demanded the response of the Icelandic government. It is necessary to have scientific results available that demonstrate the actual condition of Icelandic seafood in order to prevent damage that may result from such coverage. Furthermore, the limits of contaminants are under constant review and it is important for Icelanders to participate in such a review and support their case with scientific data. This shows the importance of regular monitoring and that Iceland conducts independent research on such an important issue as marine product pollution. This report is a summary of the results of the monitoring in 2006. It is a long-term goal to assess the condition of Icelandic seafood in terms of the amount of undesirable substances. This goal can only be achieved through continuous monitoring for a long time. Each year, the monitoring is aimed at adding the most needed data and thus making the database more accurate and comprehensive with each passing year. in marine products intended for human consumption and in fishery and flour products.

This project was started in 2003 at the request of the Icelandic Ministry of Fisheries. Until then, monitoring of undesirable substances in the edible portion of marine catches had been rather limited in Iceland. The purpose of the project is to gather information and evaluate the status of Icelandic seafood products in terms of undesirable substances. The information will also be utilized for a risk assessment and the setting of maximum values that are now under consideration within the EU. This report summarizes the results obtained in 2006 for the monitoring of various undesirable substances in the edible part of marine catches, fish meal and fish oil for feed. This project began in 2003 and has now been carried out for four consecutive years. One of the goals of this annual monitoring program of various undesirable substances in seafood is to gather information on the status Icelandic seafood products in terms of undesirable substances, this is a long-term goal which can be reached through continuous monitoring by filling in the gaps of data available over many years. For this reason, we carefully select which undesirable substances are measured in the various seafood samples each year with the aim to eventually fill in the gaps in the available data over couple of year time. The results obtained in 2003, 2004 and 2005 have already been published and are accessible at the Matis website (IFL Report 06-04, IFL Report 33-05 and IFL Report 22-06, respectively). In 2006, data were collected on, polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans (17 substances), dioxin-like PCBs (12 substances), marker PCBs (7 substances), 10 different types of pesticides, polybrominated flame retardants PBDE as well as trace elements and heavy metals.

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Reports

Antihypertensive effect (ACE inhibitory activity) in Icelandic seafood - installation of measurement methods

Published:

01/05/2007

Authors:

Lárus Freyr Þórhallsson, Margrét Geirsdóttir, Guðmundur Óli Hreggviðsson, Sigurður Vilhelmsson, Guðjón Þorkelsson

Supported by:

AVS Fisheries Research Fund

Contact

Margrét Geirsdóttir

Project Manager

mg@matis.is

Antihypertensive effect (ACE inhibitory activity) in Icelandic seafood - installation of measurement methods

The main goal of the project was to set up measurements of ACE-inhibiting activity at the Fisheries Research Institute (Matís ohf). It is Matís ohf's intention to use these measurement methods to increase the value of Icelandic seafood by examining in which products this activity is found and thus it will be possible to develop new products and acquire new markets for Icelandic seafood. The Fisheries Research Institute, LaRochelle University in France and the Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Iceland worked together on this project. The reason for the project was that IFL is working on several projects where the policy is to study the so-called bioactivity (healthy / health-improving) seafood. Bioactivity is a prerequisite for being able to market products as functional food. The University of LaRochelle specializes in measuring the ACE inhibitory effects of peptides from all kinds of raw materials. These measurements have not been made in Iceland. A large part of the project was done as a final project in the M.Sc. studies in pharmacology at the University of Iceland. This report is mostly based on Lárus Freys Þórhallsson's master's thesis in the spring of 2007. A measurement method was set up and developed to measure the ACE barrier, which works to determine IC50 values according to enalapril validation. The results also indicate that some ACE inhibitory activity is found in cod hydrolyzate and was most active in hydrolyzate filtered with a 1 kDa filter. The result of the project is therefore a measurement method that will be used in numerous projects on bioactivity in Icelandic seafood. The project has an indirect effect on the value of Icelandic seafood by promoting the development of products for use in special diets, food supplements and target foods.

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