According to the NAFC Marine Centre the workshop course will for two days i.e. on 17th and 18th September on the rapid testing of shellfish for algal toxins. The course is beneficial to all shellfish producers and processors and it will be led by Hans Kleivdal of Biosense Laboratories AS in Norway, accompanied by a team from FRS Marine Laboratory in Aberdeen and the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) in Oban.
The course will also provide an overview of control measures to hinder the harvesting and processing of contaminated shellfish, the course will also cover specific hands-on training on how to test for shellfish toxins using commercial kits. Ultimately, the programme will enable participants to integrate toxin testing as part of the food safety management system at shellfish processing facilities.
The training course is organised by the EU Collective Research project SPIES-DETOX – a strategic three year collaboration between leading national universities, government agencies, research laboratories and industry groups from the UK, Norway, Spain, Ireland and Greece. It is told that the project focuses on the development of ‘early warning’ tools for the detection of toxic algal blooms and toxins at sub-action levels, and to develop procedures to remove algal toxins from contaminated shellfish to enhance food safety for shellfish products, as well as reducing disruption and economic loss to the shellfish sector.
Dr Hans Kleivdal explained that the main part of this project is to provide training to quality control personnel in the shellfish industry in the use of simple, sensitive and robust tests for the detection of algal toxins, and for the integration of such tests into the routine HACCP plans and food safety assurance systems.
