Terry McMahon*, Joe Silke and Philipp Hess, Marine Institute, Snugboro Road, Abbotstown, Dublin 15, Ireland

Abstract

The Biotoxin Monitoring programme in Ireland began in 1984 and was initially based on the screening of samples for the presence of DSP toxins by bioassay. In recent years the detection of additional toxins, including Domoic acid and in particular Azaspiracids, as led to an increase in monitoring effort and the programme now includes weekly shellfish testing using DSP mouse bioassay, LC-MS (Okadaic acid, DTX2, Azaspiracids) and HPLC (Domoic acid) as well as phytoplankton analysis. Regular reports of the results of sample analysis are sent to the regulatory authorities, health officials as well as the shellfish producers and processors via FAX and mobile phone text messages. A Web based information system is being developed to increase access to the information.

Issues related to the occurrence of azaspiracids in bivalve molluscs in Ireland will be discussed. These issues include development and validation of detection methods, availability of standards, toxicological risk assessment, establishment of regulatory levels and the identification of the biogenic source of the toxin.