ABSTRACT
As the health benefi ts associated with seafood continue to expand, fears of seafood contaminants sometimes overshadow the good associated with eating more fi sh and shellfi sh from seas. The occurrence of episodes of human poisoning resulting from ingestion of toxic seafood in several areas of the world (Hallegraeff 2004) has certainly called for more attention. Although the safety of seafood has increased globally in recent decades there are still a number of environmental chemical contaminants, naturally occurring marine toxins and microbiological hazards that are present in seafood. The estimate of the probability and severity of the hazard to populations caused by consumption of foods is called risk. Seafood-borne illness can be broadly divided into intoxications and infections. In the fi rst case, the causative agent is a toxic compound that contaminates the seafood or is produced by a biological agent in the marine product. In the case of infections, the causative agent (bacteria, viruses, or parasites) must be ingested alive resulting in its invasion of the intestinal mucous membrane or other organs to produce endotoxins (Venkitanarayanan and Doyle 2002). The severity of these risks depends upon the nature of contamination, and
may range from mild diarrhoea to death. Fish, shellfi sh, and other marine organisms are responsible for at least one in six food poisoning outbreaks with a known etiology in the United States (Richards 1986; Lipp and Rose 1997; Anonymous 2002). Risks associated with various types of seafood over the period 1970-84 have been found that “fi sh” was most frequently involved followed by bivalve molluscan shellfi sh and crustaceans (Bryan 1980, 1987). During 1971-1990, seafood caused 32% of total food poisoning outbreaks in Korea and 22% in Japan (Lee et al. 1996). Seafood is also responsible for diseases in other parts of the world.
