Risk-based scoring and genetic identification for anisakids in frozen fish products from Atlantic FAO areas

© The Author(s). [Background]: The presence of Anisakis larvae in fish represents a major public health concern. Effective risk management procedures should be applied to prevent heavily infected products from reaching the market. The aim of the study is to provide preliminary data on parasite expos...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:BMC Veterinary Research
Main Authors: Smaldone, Giorgio, Abollo, Elvira, Marrone, Raffaele, Bernardi, Cristian E M, Chirollo, Claudia, Anastasio, Aniello, Pascual, Santiago
Other Authors: Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: BioMed Central 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/201590
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12917-020-02286-7
Description
Summary:© The Author(s). [Background]: The presence of Anisakis larvae in fish represents a major public health concern. Effective risk management procedures should be applied to prevent heavily infected products from reaching the market. The aim of the study is to provide preliminary data on parasite exposure and risk classification in frozen fish products by applying a risk categorization scheme (site, abundance, density and epidemiology – SADE) and Fish Parasite Rating (FPR) method. Fish and cephalopods samples (N = 771) from 5 different FAO Atlantic areas were examined and categorized after an accurate visual inspection and a chloro-peptic digestion. [Results]: In 25 out of 33 fish species parasite larvae were found. 10897 anisakids larvae were collected and identified to genus level. Molva dypterygia, Conger conger, Zeus faber and Aphanopus carbo were shown to be the most highly infected species. SADE and FPR scores were 1 and poor, respectively, for the referred species, because of the disseminated Anisakis infection and commercial rejection. [Conclusion]: SADE/FPR method showed high specificity and accuracy. The information provided in this work could be used in early warning systems for the detection of parasites in fishery products and might help fishing industries in establishing management strategies for infected stocks in terms of cost saving decisions. This work has been partially supported by the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale della Sicilia – granted project "Indagine epidemiologica sulla prevalenza di allergie da Anisakis nella Regione Sicilia”. Peer reviewed