Overview
Safe, compliant seafood
We monitor contaminants and chemical residues in seafood to protect consumer health and ensure products meet EU safety standards. This work supports confidence in Irish seafood at home and in export markets.
Service areas
What we monitor
Seafood safety work is grouped around contaminant monitoring and chemical residue monitoring in farmed fish.
Contaminants in seafood
We monitor fish and shellfish from Irish waters, including wild catch and farmed products, to understand contaminant levels and ensure they remain within safe legal limits.
Chemical residues in farmed fish
We monitor farmed fish for chemical residues to protect consumer health, support legal compliance and detect prohibited or unauthorised substances.
How monitoring works
The monitoring process turns field samples into evidence for food safety, compliance and market confidence.
Sample
Seafood is sampled from Irish waters, ports, farms and primary processing or packing locations.
Test
Samples are tested for relevant contaminants, residues, prohibited substances and authorised veterinary medicines.
Verify
Findings are checked against legal limits and EU food safety requirements.
Support confidence
Evidence supports consumer protection, compliance, sustainable aquaculture and continued market access.
Contaminants and residues
Contaminants in seafood
Seafood is a healthy food choice, but it can contain low levels of environmental contaminants. These include metals such as mercury, as well as hydrocarbons, pesticides and industrial chemicals.
We monitor fish and shellfish from Irish waters, including wild catch and farmed products. This helps us understand contaminant levels and ensure they remain within safe legal limits.
Chemical residues in farmed fish
We monitor farmed fish for chemical residues to protect consumer health and meet EU food safety requirements. This monitoring helps detect the illegal use of prohibited or unauthorised substances, as well as the misuse of authorised veterinary medicines.
Governance
Who we work with
We work with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland as part of the national residue risk-based control plan.
Residue monitoring is part of a wider national and EU control framework that protects consumers and supports confidence in seafood from Ireland.
What we test for
Samples are tested in line with the aquaculture risk-based control plan for a wide range of substances.
Approved medicines
Monitoring checks that only approved medicines are used.
Legal residue limits
Residue levels are checked to ensure they remain within legal limits for authorised substances.
Prohibited substances
Testing checks that prohibited or unauthorised substances are not present.
Monitoring helps ensure that food products are safe and meet EU standards. It also supports sustainable aquaculture and animal welfare.
Why residue monitoring matters
Residues are monitored because authorised veterinary medicines and treatments may be used, and sometimes must be used, to control disease and infestation as part of fish health control plans. Examples include antibacterial and antiparasitic treatments.
All European Member States are required to monitor the use of veterinary medicine in food-producing animals to ensure that farmed fish do not contain residues that could be harmful to consumers.
This programme forms part of Ireland's annual National Risk-Based Control Plan.
Downloads and further information
For related publications, see the Open Access Repository or contact the Marine Institute chemistry team.
Residues Recent Publication
Specific publication URL required before final sign-off.
Residues Booklet
Booklet file or URL to be supplied before final sign-off.
Residues Posters
Poster file or URL to be supplied before final sign-off.
Contact the chemistry team
For seafood safety publications or monitoring queries, contact the Marine Institute chemistry team.
chemistry.info@marine.ie