Identification of Emerging Hazards in Mussels by the Galician Emerging Food Safety Risks Network (RISEGAL). A First Approach

Abstract

Emerging risk identification is a priority for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The goal of the Galician Emerging Food Safety Risks Network (RISEGAL) is the identification of emerging risks in foods produced and commercialized in Galicia (northwest Spain) in order to propose prevention plans and mitigation strategies. In this work, RISEGAL applied a systematic approach for the identification of emerging food safety risks potentially affecting bivalve shellfish. First, a comprehensive review of scientific databases was carried out to identify hazards most quoted as emerging in bivalves in the period 2016–2018. Then, identified hazards were semiquantitatively assessed by a panel of food safety experts, who scored them accordingly with the five evaluation criteria proposed by EFSA: novelty, soundness, imminence, scale, and severity. Scores determined that perfluorinated compounds, antimicrobial resistance, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, hepatitis E virus (HEV), and antimicrobial residues are the emerging hazards that are considered most imminent and severe and that could cause safety problems of the highest scale in the bivalve value chain by the majority of the experts consulted (75%). Finally, in a preliminary way, an exploratory study carried out in the Galician Rías highlighted the presence of HEV in mussels cultivated in class B production areas.

Finding Biomarkers in Antioxidant Molecular Mechanisms for Ensuring Food Safety of Bivalves Threatened by Marine Pollution

“…These biological hazards, mainly pathogens and biotoxins, can easily lead to human illness because bivalve molluscs are often eaten raw. This problem is exacerbated due to mussels, oysters and clams being filter feeders and concentrating pathogens [ 51 , 52 , 53 ]. The most common pathogens belong to the norovirus family, which are single-stranded RNA viruses that cause acute gastroenteritis.…”

About Clostridium botulinum, Fish and Tilapia

“…In recent years the incidence of these diseases around the world has increased, and that is considered due to factors such as globalization, international food trade, new processing technologies, social migration, changes in eating habits, increased life expectancy, climate change, appearance of microorganisms better adapted to resist stress conditions, antibiotics favoring the spread, re-emergence, and appearance of pathogenic microorganisms (Palomino-Camargo & González-Muñoz, 2014;Masana, 2015;Donoso et al, 2016;Huertas-Caro et al, 2019;López et al, 2020).…”

“…The development, implementation and strengthening of food control systems that include coordination, management, legislation, surveillance, supervision of laboratory services, inspection, education, information, and health communication throughout the food chain (from production up to retail sale), is established to reduce risks and cases of disease transmission through food, including those of hydrobiological origin and derivatives (Donoso et al, 2016;López et al, 2020).…”

Fish, Tilapia, and Shigellosis: A review

“…The presence of these diseases can be a direct indicator of the hygienic quality of the food available for consumption, where the contamination of these can occur throughout their production, processing or by the use of contaminated raw material, because multiple pathogenic bacteria can form part of the normal microbiota of animals destined for human consumption such as poultry, pigs, cattle, among others (Cortés-Sánchez et al, 2015). The global incidence of food-borne diseases has been associated with the sum of several factors such as market globalization, climate change, introduction of new products and manufacturing processes, migration, changes in eating habits with the growing demand for ready-to-eat foods, as well as the consumption of food and water outside the home contaminated mainly due to the lack of hygiene in the preparation of food, and the absence in many occasions of water treatment in food preparation (Jorquera et al, 2015;da Cunha et al, 2017;López et al,2020).…”