FDA advice on minimizing ciguatera fish poisoning risk

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued final guidance recommending how seafood processors can minimise consumers’ risk of CFP after a draft earlier this year on the issue​.

The guidance says that seafood processors should avoid purchasing fish species associated with causing CFP from established or emerging areas linked with the issue. 

Reef fish include grouper, amberjack, snapper, lionfish, king mackerel, and barracuda.

FDA guidance​

FDA’s guidance document helps the seafood processing industry develop seafood Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) programs.

Primary seafood processors can minimize the risk of CFP by not purchasing fish that are likely to carry ciguatoxins, said the guidance.  

FDA recommends that seafood processors who purchase fish from fishermen get information about harvest locations to determine the potential for ciguatoxic fish based on knowledge of the regions where ciguatera occurs.  

CFP is caused by eating fish that have eaten toxic marine algae or have eaten other fish containing the toxins.

CFP effect​

The toxins accumulate in the flesh of reef dwelling fish, with higher ciguatoxin levels found in predatory species, which are then harvested commercially or by recreational fishermen.

Consumers who eat fish that contain ciguatoxin are at risk for contracting CFP.

CFP usually occurs within six hours after consumption of toxic fish and generally subsides from several days to a few weeks, said the FDA.

FDA published a draft of the guidance in March but received few comments and none that led to revisions of the draft guidance before making it final.

Future updates of the guide will include two species of lionfish as reef fish for which measures to prevent CFP should be in place.

However there have been no known reports of CFP illnesses associated with the consumption of lionfish as of July 2013, said the agency.