AgResearch
Browse

Toxicity Equivalence Factors for Marine Biotoxins Associated with Bivalve Molluscs

Download (1.86 MB)
chapter
posted on 2023-05-03, 22:03 authored by Luis Botana, Philipp Hess, Rex Munday, Nathalie Arnich, Stacey DeGrasse, Mark Feeley, Toshiyuki Suzuki, Martin van den Berg, Vittorio Fattori, Esther Garrido Gammaro, Angelika Tritscher, Rei Nakagawa, Iddya Karunasagar
Toxins in seafood pose an important risk to human health, and maximum permissible levels for these substances have been imposed by regulatory authorities throughout the world. Several groups of toxins are known, each of which contain many analogues of the major toxin, and regulatory limits are set on the basis of the total toxicity of all the analogues within the group. In the past, regulatory limits were set on the basis of the toxicity of an extract of the seafood to mice. This had the advantage of giving an estimate of the total toxicity of the toxins in the sample, but it is now being replaced by instrumental methods of analysis. Such analyses provide accurate quantitation of the toxin analogues in the sample, but because such analogues may have widely dissimilar toxic activities, knowledge of the relative toxicities of the analogues is required for risk assessment. The ratios between the toxicity of the analogues and that of a reference compound within the same toxin group are termed “Toxicity Equivalency Factors” (TEFs). In this document, the requirements for determining TEFs of toxin analogues are de scribed, and requirements for further research are identified. The new analytical methods, together with appropriately-derived TEFs, will provide scientifically-based regulatory limits for seafood toxins, protecting human health without unnecessarily disadvantaging the seafood industry.

History

Rights statement

FAO and WHO encourage the use, reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product. Except where otherwise indicated, material may be copied, downloaded and printed for private study, research and teaching purposes, provided that appropriate acknowledgement of FAO and WHO as the source and copyright holder is given and that FAO and WHO’s endorsement of users’ views, products or services is not implied in any way.

Language

  • English

Does this contain Māori information or data?

  • No

Publisher

FAO/WHO

Journal title

Toxicity Equivalence Factors for Marine Biotoxins Associated with Bivalve Molluscs. FAO/WHO Technical Paper, 2016

ISBN

9789251093450

Citation

Botana, L., Hess, P., Munday, R., Arnich, N., DeGrasse, S., Feeley, M., … Karunasagar, I. (2016). Toxicity equivalence factors for marine biotoxins associated with bivalve molluscs. Joint FAO/WHO Technical Paper, 2016. Rome, Italy: FAO/WHO.

Usage metrics

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC