Lit Review: Cyanobacterial toxins in fish arising from cyanobacterial bloom

This literature review being tendered links into the FSA Strategy 2022 – 2027. This strategy states that the FSA’s fundamental mission is food you can trust. The FSA will continue to protect consumers by ensuring that food is safe and is what it says it is. This proposed piece of work is part of a wider programme of work and will sit in the Chemical Hazards in Food and Feed research programme. This is one of the FSA’s Areas of research interest | Food Standards Agency (ARI) and sits under ‘Research priority two: chemical, radiological and food hypersensitivity risks–How will dietary and other consumer-driven shifts in the food system change chemical, radiological and allergen risk over the next 5 years and how can we better anticipate them?’. The main aim of the area of interest (ARI) is to provide evidence to support effective risk management decisions by ensuring the risk analysis process is informed by independent, science-led risk assessment and socio-economic analytical evidence. Research under this ARI, including surveys and other research projects, will provide FSA scientists and policymakers with current and reliable information on chemicals in food and feed. Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is the largest freshwater lake in Ireland and Britain, measuring 400 square km. During the summer and autumn of 2023, 2024 and 2025, Lough Neagh has been affected by cyanobacterial blooms. Cyanobacterial blooms are expected to continue to occur in Lough Neagh, resulting in the presence of cyanobacterial toxins in fish and possible other foods. The types of toxins detected, and their concentrations, are expected to vary over time. The objectives of this literature review are to fill in the data gaps regarding occurrence and toxicity through food and feed of cyanobacterial toxins in fish and other foods arising from cyanobacterial blooms. This literature review will consider the toxins that are currently being tested for as part of the ongoing monitoring programme (free and