February 19, 2010

FDA throws support behind Chilean salmon

The US Food and Drug Administration says Chilean salmon is still safe to consume despite a virus that has decimated the Chilean industry.

There is no evidence that eating Chilean salmon will cause harm, according to Ira Allen, spokesman for the FDA Centre for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition.

The infectious salmon anemia (ISA), which has ravaged Chile's salmon industry, is not harmful to humans.

More than 60% of all farmed salmon imported into the United States was from Chile in 2004 but by 2009 it was down to 30.1%, according to the USDA.

Last month, the government of Chile took steps to clean up the way it farms salmon, including moving fishing operations to a different area of the Chilean coast. But the virus, which appeared at least two years ago, persisted.

Registered dietitian Ann Cain said while farmed salmon may be safe, consumers will likely stop eating them because of distrust in the food safety regulations.