title: Contaminant levels in Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the 13-year period from 1999 to 2011.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Environmental pollutants such as dioxins and PCBs, heavy metals, and organochlorine pesticides are a global threat to food safety. In particular, the aquatic biota can bioaccumulate many of these contaminants potentially making seafood of concern for chronic exposure to humans.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The main objective was to evaluate trends of contaminant levels in Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon in light of the derived tolerable intakes.
  
  
  METHODS
  Through an EU-instigated surveillance programme, the Norwegian Food Safety Authority (NFSA) has between 1999 and 2011 collected more than 2300 samples of Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) for contaminant analyses. The fillets of these fish were homogenised and analysed for dioxins, PCBs, heavy metals and organochlorine pesticides.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The levels of the contaminants mercury, arsenic, dioxins, dioxin-like PCBs and DDT in Norwegian farmed salmon fillet have decreased during our period of analyses. The levels of cadmium, lead and several organochlorine pesticides were too close to the limit of quantification to calculate time trends. For PCB6 and quantifiable amounts of pesticides, except DDT, stable levels were observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The contaminant levels in Norwegian farmed salmon have generally decreased between 1999 and 2011. Excluding other dietary sources, the levels of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in 2011 allowed consumption of up to 1.3kg salmon per week to reach the tolerable weekly intake. The group of contaminants which was the limiting factor for safe consumption of Norwegian farmed salmon, based on currently established TWI values, is the sum of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs.
authors.affiliation: NIFES (National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research), Bergen, Norway. Electronic address: ono@nifes.no.
authors.forename: Ole Jakob
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Nøstbakken
authors.affiliation: NIFES (National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research), Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Helge T
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Hove
authors.affiliation: NIFES (National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research), Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Arne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Duinker
authors.affiliation: NIFES (National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research), Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Anne-Katrine
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Lundebye
authors.affiliation: NIFES (National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research), Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Marc H G
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Berntssen
authors.affiliation: NIFES (National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research), Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hannisdal
authors.affiliation: NIFES (National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research), Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Bjørn Tore
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Lunestad
authors.affiliation: NIFES (National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research), Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Amund
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maage
authors.affiliation: NIFES (National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research), Bergen, Norway; Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
authors.forename: Lise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Madsen
authors.affiliation: NIFES (National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research), Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Bente E
authors.initials: BE
authors.lastname: Torstensen
authors.affiliation: NIFES (National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research), Bergen, Norway.
authors.forename: Kåre
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Julshamn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017756:Aquaculture; D004147:Dioxins / Q000032:analysis; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D059022:Food Safety; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated / Q000032:analysis; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis; D010575:Pesticides / Q000032:analysis; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis; D020317:Salmo salar; D017747:Seafood
chemical_list: D004147:Dioxins; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D006843:Hydrocarbons, Chlorinated; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D010575:Pesticides; D011078:Polychlorinated Biphenyls
keywords: Dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs; Food safety; Heavy metals; Pesticides; Tolerable weekly intake