EU rules salmon safe after scare fails to deter shoppers

The European Commission rejected warnings about the safety of farmed salmon yesterday, saying that levels of harmful chemicals detected in a recent scientific study are within safe limits.

EU officials contradicted the findings of US and Canadian scientists, who argued in a report released last week that farmed salmon should be eaten perhaps no more than three times a year.

Supermarkets in the UK reported that the latest food scare had not deterred most shoppers, and said that sales had actually risen in some outlets.

Last week's report, published in the journal Science, highlighted the danger of substances linked to cancer and birth defects found in fish supplied by supermarkets and wholesalers. But Beate Gminder, spokeswoman for the European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs, said that the results "do not exceed the maximum levels" for safe consumption.

Although the Commission would like to see a reduction in dioxin levels, Ms Gminder said, farmed salmon is safe. "We have a risk management strategy and clear maximum limits. It does not exceed those maximum limits," she said.

Her statement echoed the advice of the UK's Food Standards Agency, which last week urged consumers to carry on eating farmed salmon.

FSA chairmanSir John Krebs, said that the study showed the level of dioxins and PCBs to be within internationally recognised safety limits, adding: "Our advice is that people should consume at least two portions of fish a week, one of which should be oily like salmon.

"There is good evidence that eating oily fish reduces the risk of death from recurrent heart attacks and that there is a similar effect in relation to first heart attacks," he said.

The contradictory advice from the US scientists and from the UK and EU authorities reflects a differing view of how to assess food safety. The North American study assumes that any level of exposure to dioxins carries with it some risk, however small, of developing cancer. British and EU scientists accept the World Health Organisation assessment that, provided exposure to dioxins is kept below a certain threshold, there will be no adverse effect to health.

Many consumers have accepted the FSA's advice. The supermarket chain Asda reported normal sales over the weekend and a 20 per cent increase on seasonal demand last Friday. A spokeswoman suggested that the figures may be explained by the public having become "a bit immune to food scares".

Sainsbury's said demand for all types of salmon was up 9 per cent over the whole of last week up to Saturday, and Tesco claimed sales were "in line with what you would expect for the time of year". Only Marks & Spencer noticed a "slight fall" over the weekend.

The controversy is not the first to raise questions about the safety of farmed salmon. A year ago the European Commission moved to reduce the amount of one additive, canthaxanthin, which can be used to exaggerate salmon's pink colouring. That followed evidence that high intake of the chemical could affect human eyesight.