Report by Gery Flynn

The rapid alert triggered by the French authorities, who ordered the withdrawal from sale of Irish mussels suspected of causing biotoxin poisoning could have serious consequences for the processor concerned if the Sea-fisheries Protection Authority finds that food safety legislation has been breached.

Micheál O’Mahony, a director of the SFPA who has been leading the investigation at Bantry Bay Seafoods told Inshore Ireland that he was satisfied with the progress of his enquiries so far.

And although clearly limited in what he could say at this stage, he firmly rebutted any suggestion that the incident was the result of a failure in the National Marine Biotoxin Monitoring Programme:

“Absolutely not. The SFPA continues to have confidence in the programme. It’s a robust system that provides appropriate levels of assurance to consumers. What we are talking about here is a putative implication of Bantry Bay Seafoods in biotoxin poisoning – particularly azaspiracid poisoning (AZP)”

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