Science Response 2014/006

Advice Regarding Harvesting Seal Products of High Quality for Human Consumption

Context

The Canadian Fish Inspection Act and Regulations prohibit the export (including production of products for export) of fish (including marine mammals) that are tainted, decomposed or unwholesome.  Seals that are unhealthy and that present a food safety risk to consumers are considered unwholesome.  Therefore, any person involved in the harvest and further processing of seal products is required to apply preventative controls to ensure that edible seal products meet Canadian food safety standards, and are acceptable for human consumption.

Inspection of seal carcasses at sea for the purpose of harvesting products for human consumption involves a number of unique challenges compared to that of domestic animals or terrestrial wildlife. These challenges make it particularly important for harvesters and processors to ensure that food safety preventative controls are consistently applied to all seal carcasses brought onboard vessels.  There are limited opportunities to assess live seals in the field during harvest against food safety criteria. However, seal harvesters must try to do this to the best of their ability and avoid harvesting animals that are unacceptable for producing edible products.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) requested advice from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to assist seal harvesters in visually assessing the health of live seals and carcasses at the time of harvest such that only seals suitable for the production of edible products are selected for further processing as human food.  A Research Document, Daoust and Stacey (2013), is intended to provide technical information and training to the seal harvesting community for this purpose. Specifically, it addresses the criteria required to assess the health of seals as they are brought onboard sealing vessels and focuses on the initial steps of carcass handling and examination. The present report is intended to provide a general outline of the context, approach used and conclusions of the supporting Research Document (Daoust and Stacey 2013).  However, Daoust and Stacey (2013) contains all of the technical information to assist seal harvesters in visually assessing the health of live seals and carcasses at the time of harvest. 

This Science Response Report results from the Science Special Response Process of January 31 and October 25, 2013, entitled “Training for sealers on visual assessments of the general health of live seals during the harvest”.

Complete document (PDF, 46  KB)

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