Absence of anisakis nematodes in smoked farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) products on sale in European countries

Abstract

The increase of global demand of aquaculture products as compensation for the lowering of fishery sustainability has shown a parallel awareness by the consumers on the importance of the safety and quality of fish products. Among these, salmon industry has reached a leading position demonstrating the negligible risk of presence of zoonotic helminths such as anisakis nematodes in farmed salmon. Despite the massive production of data in literature on parasitological surveys carried out on fresh salmon, no data are published on processed farmed salmon such as smoked products. In 2016, 270 slices of smoked farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and 13 smoked slices from wild sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) have been analyzed by visual inspection and UV-press method searching for the presence of anisakid nematodes. No parasites were detected in samples from farmed Atlantic salmon, while 10 out of 13 from wild salmon were positive for Anisakis simplex s.s. larvae. This first survey on the possible presence of anisakid nematodes in processed smoked salmon confirms that this risk in farmed Atlantic salmon products has to be considered negligible.