UK-based buyers of pelagic fish, such as herring and mackerel, have welcomed the latest recommendation by the UK Food Standards Agency that people should eat more oily fish, but are perplexed by the FSA’s use of obsolete data on the levels of dioxins in oily fish as a basis for the advice.

Ian McFadden, chairman of the UK Herring Buyers’ Association, which represents the majority of nation’s pelagic purchasers said: “We were very pleased that the FSA recommendation went up from one portion to up to four portions per week. That is the most important point.”

However, he said he could not understand why the FSA report used old data (1995/96) on dioxin levels to calculate the maximum number of portions that consumers should eat each week.

He noted that since the 1995/96 data was published, dioxin levels in herring and mackerel have been falling steadily every year. Moreover, he added: “The figures published by FSA itself, giving the 2003 monitoring results for the European Union, confirm much lower [dioxin] levels for herring and mackerel.”

However, the HBA is unlikely to take a hard-line stance on this. According to Mr McFadden: “This would seem to be an oversight and we have written to FSA pointing this out. We have no wish to take the matter further.”

Helge Korsager, the managing director of the UK’s largest fishmeal producer, United Fish Products Ltd, told Fishupdate.com that the FSA advice: “has clear spin-offs for our industry”. However, he too noted that the FSA had used old data in its assessments, and that the situation had improved a lot since then.

UFP manages two large-scale fishmeal plants in Scotland (Shetland and Aberdeen), one in England (Grimsby) and one in the Republic of Ireland (Killybegs). Since fishmeal is mainly made up of dehydrated small oily fish and offal, the level of dioxin in these fish has a direct knock-on effect on the fishmeal – and the animals and fish that feed on it.

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