ANNOUNCEMENT
On February 4, 2008, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a
letter intended for seafood processors in the northern Gulf of Mexico
and seafood processors that purchase grouper, amberjack, and related
predatory reef species captured in the northern Gulf of Mexico to inform
them of the FDA's concern with a number of recent outbreaks of ciguatera
fish poisoning (CFP) that have been traced to fish from an area in the
United States where ciguatera was previously extremely rare. It modifies
FDA's previous guidance <http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/haccp4f.html>
(http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/haccp4f.html) on this subject (See Fish
and Fisheries Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, Third Edition
<http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/haccp4.html>
http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/haccp4.html June 2001). FDA also
outlines the actions that they recommend processors take to minimize the
risk that fish that they distribute will cause CFP. The recommendations
in the FDA's guidance only pertain to grouper, amberjack, and related
predatory reef species associated with CFP. This guidance does not
pertain to other species of fish that have not been associated with CFP.
Note: the FDA's "Fish and Fisheries Products Hazards and Controls
Guidance" assists seafood processors in the development of their HACCP
plans by providing information on hazards and control strategies.
Sometime this year the FDA is expected to release the 4th edition of its
Hazards and Controls Guidance. No date has been announced yet, but when
an issue date is confirmed, this listserv will bring the news to you.
For a preview of possible changes (but won't be confirmed until the 4th
edition of FDA's Hazards and Controls Guidance is actually printed),
visit the Connecticut and Rhode Island Sea Grant Programs newsletter,
"Seafood Savvy: A HACCP Update
(http://www.seagrant.uconn.edu/savvy13.pdf)." This newsletter (see
pages 2-4) summarizes an FDA presentation on what is possibly in store
with the upcoming Guide. The presentation was given at the Atlantic
Fisheries Technology Conference, held in Portland Maine, on November
8-11, 2007 by Byron Truglio, Chief, FDA Seafood Processing Technology
Policy Branch. The newsletter editor is Nancy Balcom (CT Sea Grant) and
the article was provided by Lori Pivarnik (RI Sea Grant).
Pamela Tom
Seafood Extension Program Manager
University of California
Food Science and Technology Department
One Shields Avenue
Davis, CA 95616 USA
E-mail: pdtom@ucdavis.edu Fax: 530/752-4759
Web: http://seafood.ucdavis.edu
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