Dear list
members,
In the
original FDA release of 2/5/08,
some geographic specifics were included. The CFP cases were traced to
fish that
had been harvested in or near the Flower Garden Banks National Marine
Sanctuary
(http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2008/NEW01790.html).
In this release, it states:
“FDA now
considers CFP to be a food
safety hazard that is reasonably likely to occur in grouper, snapper,
and hogfish
captured within 10 miles of the marine sanctuary and amberjack,
barracuda and
other wide-ranging species within 50 miles of the sanctuary”.
For those of
us who purchase fish from the
Gulf of Mexico, in evaluating possible changes to current HACCP plans
in light
of the FDA’s advisory, it would seem reasonable that so long as
assurances are obtained that any fish received/purchased were not
caught in
waters w/in 50 miles of FGBNMS, this would satisfy the FDA’s new
guidance. Can anyone from the FDA confirm that this would be adequate?
Fredrik J
Stengard
Director of
Research/QC/HACCP-BioSafety
Bama Sea
Products, Inc.
756 28th
Street South,
St.
Petersburg, FL 33712
Phone (727)
327-3474 x374
Fax (727)
327-7574
email:
fstengard@bamasea.com
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)
on this subject (See Fish
and Fisheries Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, Third Edition
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