A new monitoring programme for harvesting King Scallops on the Irish coastline will come into effect this weekend.

The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA), says that from June 1st there will be increased sampling of whole scallops and more toxins will be analysed.

“The SFPA has worked collaboratively with the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and the Marine Institute (MI) in preparation to implement the enhanced monitoring programme,”it says.

It has also held briefing sessions and consulted with industry in the lead up to this change, it says.

King Scallops are a live bivalve mollusc species which are harvested/fished by Irish fishermen primarily from offshore wild fisheries, and by the inshore fleet from a number of classified production areas.

Specific EU regulations apply to live bivalve molluscs including scallops to ensure compliance with food safety standards.

All commercially harvested scallops must comply with these regulations so they can be placed on the market for human consumption, the SFPA says.

The harvesting or fishing of scallops can only take place from classified production areas that are on an “open” biotoxin status for scallops when they can be marketed live and whole in the shell, or on a “harvest restricted” biotoxin status when only shucked product of those parts of the scallop which have tested below regulatory limits for marine biotoxins can be placed on the market.

“ No harvesting of scallops is allowed from a classified production area that is on a “closed” biotoxin status for scallops,” it says.

More information is on the following link Food Safety Information Notice Harvesting of King Scallops

The "Code of Practice for the Irish Shellfish Monitoring Programme (Biotoxins)”  has also been updated and is available on the Food Safety Authority of Ireland website.

The SFPA Food Safety Unit can be contacted at email [email protected].