Food Safety

Shellfish

Shellfish Controls

There are a variety of Shellfish that are harvested from the Outer Hebrides. The following controls apply to bivalve and marine gastropods, including scallops, mussels, winkles, oysters, razor fish and cockles.

The Comhairle, through Food Standards Agency-Scotland Funding, employs two Shellfish Sampling officers. The Officers collect weekly samples from all the commercially harvested sites in the Outer Hebrides, including bacteriological, toxin and phytoplankton samples. These samples are required under EU legislation and help ensure that the shellfish harvested from the islands are safe to eat.

Classified waters

Bivalve and Marine Gastropods, other than Scallops can only be commercially harvested from waters that are classified in accordance with EU Regulation.
A summary of the classification system is given below.

Shellfish Classification System
Classification	Permitted Levels	Outcome
A	<230	Less than 230 E. coli/100g flesh	May go direct for human consumption if end product standard met.
B	<4600	Less than 4,600 E. coli/100g flesh (in 90% of samples	Must be subject to purification, relaying in Class A area (to meet Category A requirements) or cooked by an approved method.
C	<46000	Less than 46,000 E.coli/100g flesh	Must be subject to relaying for a period of at least 2 months or cooked by an approved method.
Above 46,000 E.coli/100g flesh	Prohibited Harvesting not permitted

Only shellfish from Class A waters may go directly for human consumption. Information on the classification of shellfish waters around Scotland is available from the Food Standards Agency Website . Specific information for the Outer Hebrides is available below:

Outer Hebrides Classifications

More detailed information on Shellfish classification is available via the following: Summary of Shellfish Classification Information (PDF, 50K).

Shellfish Toxins
There are 3 main types of shellfish toxins that affect the shellfish in the Outer Hebrides. The algal toxins are produced by naturally occurring phytoplankton and during algal blooms the shellfish can accumulate these toxins at levels that are harmful.

Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP) (PDF, 70K)
Diarrhetic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP)
Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning (ASP).

The latest toxin and phytoplankton sampling results are available from the Food Standards Agency Website.

Registration Documents
Registration Documents should accompany batches of commercially harvested live bivalve molluscs and gastropods until they go through an approved dispatch centre.

Application for registration (PDF, 80K)

Applications Forms for Shellfish Harvesting Sites

Please read the classification notes above and contact this office prior to submitting these forms:

Please contact Food Safety for further information.

Top