New Test Determines Whether Farmed Fish Are Being Contaminated With Pesticides

Scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology (Germany) have developed a way to test whether chemical substances accumulate in farmed fish that have been fed contaminated feed. The food industry needs such a test because half of all the fish eaten today comes from fish farms, where fish are increasingly fed vegetable-based foods that may contain pesticide residues. Fish feed producers have turned to the use of crops such as soya, maize and rape to replace the dwindling supplies of fishmeal and fish oil so important to fish feed. Using large water tanks, researchers test the flesh of fresh water fish like carp and trout for pesticide residues using highly sensitive analytical methods that detect even the smallest quantities of a harmful substance.