Seafood has been recognized as a high quality, healthy and safe food item. Yet, some seafood can accumulate environmental contaminants with potential impact on human health.

Limited information is available for those without maximum limits set by authorities for seafood, like priority contaminants, biotoxins from harmful algal blooms and marine litter. In order to increase seafood safety to consumers and reduce human health risks, ECsafeSEAFOOD aims to assess safety issues mainly related to nonregulated priority contaminants and evaluate their impact on public health.

ECsafeSEAFOOD addresses these objectives with eight work packages (WPs) targeting priority environmental contaminants, including biotoxins from harmful algal blooms and marine litter.

• WP1 will elaborate a database with relevant information required for risk assessment gathered from literature and national monitoring programmes.
• WP2 will monitor contaminants in seafood using an ambitious sampling strategy following the recommendations of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (Descriptor 9) and assess the effect of seafood processing/cooking on contaminants.
• In WP3, risk assessment (with data KBBE.2012.02.4-01: Part B - ECsafeSEAFOOD (311820) 7 from WP1-2) and mitigation strategies will be implemented to reduce the impact of risky contaminants on human health.
• WP4 will develop fast screening/detection methods for relevant contaminants tailored to suit stakeholders needs to promote consumers’ confidence in seafood.
• WP5 will carry out the toxicological characterization of contaminated seafood in realistic conditions and will use alternative toxicological methods to provide tools for the risk assessment (WP3).
• WP6 will assess the links between the level of contaminants in the environment and that in seafood through controlled trials and case-study species, taking into account the effect of climate changes.
• WP7 details a strategy for education, training with clear and practical dissemination of results.
• WP8 will ensure efficient project management.

Webpage: 
http://www.ecsafeseafood.eu

Project Manager from the Norwegian Veterinary Institute:
Eliann Egaas

Partners:

1. (Coordinator) IPMA Portuguese Institute of Sea andAtmosphere, I.P.RTD Portugal
2. AZTI Tecnalia-AZTI RTD Spain
3. UM University of Maribor RTD Slovenia
4. UGent Ghent University RTD Belgium
5. NVI Norwegian Veterinary Institute RTD Norway
6. ICRA Catalan Institute for Water Research RTD Spain
7. DTU Technical University of Denmark RTD Denmark
8. ILVO Institute for Agricultural and FisheriesResearch RTD Belgium
9. ICETA Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto RTD Portugal
10. IRTA Institute of Research and Technology in Food and Agriculture RTD Spain
11. IMARES Institute for Marine Resources and Ecosystem Studies RTD Netherlands
12. URV TecnaTox. “Rovira i Virgili” University RTD Spain
13. AEIFORIA Aeiforia SME Italy
14. AQUATT AQUATT SME Ireland
15. ARVAM / ARDA Agency for Marine Research and Valorisation / Reunion Association of Aquaculture Development RTD France
16. POLYINTELL Polyintell Intelligent Polymers SME France
17. HORTIMARE Hortimare Projects & Consultancy BV SME Netherlands
18. DAN SALMON Dan Salmon A/S SME Denmark