Lough Neagh fish safe to eat despite toxin discovery, FSA says

Fish from Lough Neagh are safe to eat despite the discovery of toxins in the flesh of some species, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has said.

Professor Robin May, chief scientific adviser at the FSA, said there was no change in advice to consumers or anglers.

Blue-green algae returned to the lough in Northern Ireland for the third successive year over the summer.

Noxious blooms of the algae covered large parts of the lough, the UK’s largest freshwater lake by surface area.

The condition of the lough resulted in the eel-fishing season being cut short this summer.

Professor May told the BBC Nolan Show that fish in the lough were being continually monitored for toxin levels.

He said: “The most recent set of samplings finds that we do detect toxins in some of these fish, but very reassuring they are all at levels that are safe.

“Our advice to consumers doesn’t change, that fish from the lough are still safe to eat.

“Our advice to anglers, people catching their own fish, doesn’t change, again you can catch and eat your own fish but you should take extra care to make sure they are gutted well because the toxins accumulate in those visceral organs, in the guts of the fish.

“So make sure you have done a good job of removing those and rinsing the fish before you eat it.”

Professor May said sampling of fish in the lough had been much more extensive this year.

He said: “We are testing for a wider range of toxins in more parts of the fish.

“In this case we have tested both the viscera, the guts and the flesh of the fish, obviously the part that people eat, and we have tested quite a wide range of fish like bream and trout and eel to make sure we are covering all of the bases there.

“Last year what we found was that we could only detect toxins in the viscera, the guts of the fish.

“This year, in a couple of cases we have detected toxins in the flesh of the fish, not for all species and not at high levels.

“Even in those fish where we do find it in the muscle tissue, the part you would eat, the levels are much below the levels that are safe to consume.

“Those fish are still safe to eat.”

He said toxins had been detected in the flesh of eel and perch but not other species.

Lough Neagh supplies 40% of Northern Ireland’s drinking water and sustains a major eel-fishing industry.

Nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural fertiliser running off fields and from wastewater treatment is a contributory factor in the blue-green algae blooms.

The spread of the invasive zebra mussel species is also understood to have played a role in the blooms, as they have made the water clearer, allowing more sunlight to penetrate, stimulating more algal photosynthesis.

Climate change is another factor as water temperatures rise.

The Stormont Executive last year launched an action plan to deal with the environmental crisis at the lough.