2024-07-23 19:49:08
(ANSA) – BRUSSELS, JULY 23 – The presence of vibrio bacteria, responsible for gastroenteritis and other infections, in seafood is set to increase both globally and in Europe due to rising temperatures, especially in low-salinity or brackish waters. This is the warning launched by EFSA, the European Food Safety Authority, in the latest assessment on the presence of these aquatic bacteria that can cause serious infections in humans who consume raw or undercooked seafood and molluscs, such as oysters.
Climate change and rising temperatures favor the proliferation of bacteria, resulting in an increased risk of infections due to the consumption of contaminated seafood. The regions particularly at risk – explains EFSA – are those with brackish or low-salinity waters, such as the Baltic Sea, the transitional waters between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea and the Black Sea. To prevent bacterial proliferation, the European authority based in Parma recommends maintaining the cold chain during processing, transport and storage, especially for seafood intended to be consumed raw and recommends consumers not to consume them raw.
Not just high temperatures. The European authority based in Parma warns of the risk that some species of vibrios are increasingly being found to be resistant to antibiotics. The experts in Parma recommend that Brussels launch an investigation into the presence of these bacteria in fish products “as a fundamental priority to collect additional and harmonized data”. (ANSA).
2024-07-23 19:49:08