ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the European system, as the European Union (EU) is the largest importer of seafood products, and many exporter countries have implemented the European system, which is also mandatory in all countries in Europe. As a consequence, many third countries implement, in their legislation and control programs, a monitoring surveillance that complies with EU legislation. A production area is a body of water adequately identified by means of satellite marks, regional maps, and any other means to allow a precise identification of the boundaries of the water surface where seafood captures take place. Since cooking means water loss, the concentration of toxins might be rather high, and products that were extracted within legal toxin limits may become toxic after cooking. The mouse bioassay, after many years of being the reference method for marine toxins monitoring, is about to be replaced by chromatographic separation with mass spectrophotometric detection methods.
