Contaminated sample is 'most likely' cause of food safety alert
No steroids are used in the production of farm-raised Scottish salmon, says trade body after Sunday newspaper report
The discovery of steroids in a test sample of Scottish salmon from a batch exported to France is suspected to be due to contamination of the sample, trade body Salmon Scotland has said.
France notified the European Commission’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) about the test result on September 9 last year, and the Herald on Sunday newspaper reported the finding at the weekend after receiving information from anti-salmon farming campaigner Don Staniford.
“No steroids are used in the production of farm-raised Scottish salmon. This was an erroneous result, most likely caused by contamination of the sample taken for analysis. Negative test results for samples taken before and after this erroneous result support this position,” Salmon Scotland told Fish Farming Expert.
Full investigation
“A full investigation was undertaken by Food Standards Scotland, with a report to the European Commission, as is required. This investigation did not find any evidence of the use of steroids and concluded that the most likely reason for the failed test was sample contamination.”
In response to questions from FFE, Salmon Scotland confirmed that the use steroids to boost growth in salmon production is illegal in the UK, and that the Scottish salmon sector doesn’t use steroids for other production purposes or for medical / welfare purposes.
Asked whether the French test could have detected naturally occurring levels of steroids, Salmon Scotland said that although this cannot be ruled out, it is unlikely to have been the case.
