Negligible risk of zoonotic parasites in Italian aquaculture

• Main Authors: Andrea Gustinelli, Monica Caffara, Perla Tedesco, Maria Letizia Fioravanti
• Other Authors: Andrea Gustinelli, Monica Caffara, Perla Tedesco, Maria Letizia Fioravanti
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: country:ITA 2021
• Subjects: Negligible risk; fish-borne zoonotic parasites; Aquaculture; Italy; Dicentrachus labrax; Oncorhynchus mykiss; Sparus aurata; Moe; Norway; Atlantic salmon; Salmo salar
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11585/868851; https://www.sisvet.it/joomla30/images/pdf/Atti_Convegno/atti_sisvet_2021.pdf

The diffusion of new eating habits and the increase of fish products demand have been raising concerns in the European countries, including Italy, about the transmission risk of zoonotic fish parasites to consumers, leading to the current EU "Hygiene Package" Regulations. In relation to the mandatory freezing treatment for “products intended to be consumed raw, or marinated, salted and any other treated fishery products, if the treatment is insufficient to kill the viable parasite”, an exception is included in the Reg. (EU) No 1276/2011 for farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), for which the risk was considered negligible according to EFSA Opinion (2010), but not for other fish species farmed in Europe. With the aim to collect the necessary epidemiological information on the presence/absence of zoonotic parasites in EU aquaculture, in the framework of the EU H2020 project ParaFishControl (www.parafishcontrol.eu), an extensive parasitological survey has been carried out on the main farmed fish species in Italy and other countries such as Spain, Greece, Denmark, Norway and Hungary. The present work reports the results from Italy. From 2016 to 2018 a total of 4728 farmed fish have been examined from 6 freshwater and 5 marine farms located in Italy: 1594 rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), 1571 European sea bass (Dicentrachus labrax) and 1563 gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) have been collected based on a random polietapic and stratified sampling plan with a confidence level of 99% and a margin of error (MoE) of 4-8%. Besides harvest quality fish, runts were also examined in order to consider even the most predisposed hosts to acquire parasites through the natural food web. Parasitological analyses to search for anisakid nematodes in marine fish and diphyllobothriid cestodes and Opisthorchioidea digeneans in freshwater fish were performed utilizing methodologies such as visual inspection and candling as provided by the EU regulation, integrated by UV-press method, muscle compression/artificial digestion followed ...