Larsen MM, Jakobsen HH, Göke C, Hendriksen NB, Rømer JK, Mohn C, Feld L, Jensen AN & Schultz AC. 2018. Sanitary survey rapport 8: Kalø Vig og Jyllands østkyst (nordlig del). Aarhus Universitet, DCE – Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi, 106 s. - Teknisk rapport fra DCE – Nationalt Center for Miljø og Energi nr. 126. http://dce2.au.dk/pub/TR126.pdf
Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 of the European Parliament and the Council of April 29th, 2004 lays down specific rules for the organisation of official controls on products of animal origin intended for human consumption. Classification of production areas for live bivalve molluscs etc.[1] and the associated sampling plan are required to be based on so-called ‘sanitary surveys’. A sanitary survey is an assessment of the interactions between potential sources of microbial pollution, climate conditions and oceanography in the area. The EU Commission guidance for making a sanitary survey formed the basis for this report. However, in certain cases, the Danish practice for microbiological sampling frequency and the previous classification on the basis of this is used. The Danish practice is described in ‘muslingebekendtgørelsen’, which is summarized in Appendix 11.
The report covers production areas P60, P61, P62, P63, P96, and P97 situated in Kalø Vig, Bay of Aarhus bounded by Horsens Fjord and Samsø in the Belt Sea and Ebeltoft Vig, in short ‘Kalø Vig and the northern part of East Jutland’. The covered production areas within Kalø Vig and the northern part of east Jutland are marked ‘Rapportområde’ on the maps in this report.
The report recommends a microbiological sampling plan consisting of several designated sampling points and sampling frequencies for the individual production areas. It is further discussed whether merging of production areas into fewer areas could be an option in the future to reduce the number of sampling points, without compromising food safety.
The report is supported by publicly available data from monitoring of microbiological contamination in Kalø Vig and the northern part of east Jutland where the concentrations of E. coli and Salmonella are determined in samples of mussels etc. taken at different sampling points within each area. The report points to the most precautionary fixed sampling points for future monitoring.
In summary, the sanitary survey of Kalø Vig and the northern part of east Jutland identified a generally microbiologically homogeneous and relatively clean area with only a few exceptions of rare occurrences of recent relevant critical microbial contamination.
The data set represents the 10-year period 2008-2017 and revealed that 98 % of a total of 300 samples contained E. coli within the A-level (<230 E. coli/100 g); none of the 67 samples tested for Salmonella were positive. However, no data were available for P96 and P97 before 2017, and only 5 samples from 2009 were available in P62.
Based on an assessment of sources and transport routes for microbiological contamination (sanitary survey) verified against historical microbiological data on Kalø Vig and the northern part of east Jutland, a microbiological monitoring programme is recommended for each of the production areas in Kalø Vig and the northern part of east Jutland.
In each of the recommended monitoring programmes, proposals for a sampling location, classification status (preliminary or permanent) and a sampling plan are outlined.
Based on the results from the sanitary survey of the production areas, supported by the historical data sets on the number, frequency and E. coli concentration in samples, it is assessed that as a whole (bottom and aquaculture) only the individual production area P63 is considered suitable for permanent classification with a future sampling frequency of at least eight samples per year over a three-year period.
Permanent classification is hindered in the rest of the production areas due to insufficient numbers of analyzed samples (less than 24) within the past three years (P96-P97), or lack of sampling in the past year (2017) for P60-P62.
If unclassified areas are to be upgraded to permanent classification, the EU guideline requires that the collection of data should include at least 12 samples for the latest six months or data from 24 samples over the last three years.
The report is divided into main chapters that provide a summary of identified microbiological contaminants. Appendices 2-8 serve as starting point of the main chapters. Appendix 9 is a detailed review of all historical microbiological data from mussel monitoring consisting of the fishery’s own-check and the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration’s[2] verification projects of the industry’s microbial monitoring. It was decided that a so-called ‘shoreline survey’ is unnecessary because all possible sources of sanitary contamination are described in the sewage plans for the cities in the area, the beach water quality monitoring and in the analyses of the Ministry of Environment and Food under the auspices of the Water Framework Directive.
