Background
Veterinary medicinal products are applied in aquaculture production for treating and preventing bacterial diseases and parasitic infestations in the cultured species. On the one hand, aquaculture medicinal products can be considered as a powerful tool for improving the health status of the cultured species and increasing the productivity of the aquaculture farms. However, on the other hand, some veterinary medicines might pose a risk for the targeted aquaculture animals when they are not used according to recommendations since they can induce mortalities or reduce the growth rates in the cultured organisms. Veterinary medicines may enter the environment through the continuous or intermittent discharge of aquaculture effluents, posing a potential risk for the biodiversity and functioning of surrounding aquatic ecosystems. In addition to this, human health and trade may be negatively affected by the presence of residues of veterinary medicines in the aquaculture produce, since they might result in potential side-effects on consumers and rejections of aquaculture products in national and international food safety controls.
Processes modeled by the ERA-AQUA DSS
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Aim
The ERA-AQUA Decision Support System (DSS) was developed to assess risks posed by the use of veterinary medicines in pond aquaculture production systems for:
- the targeted produce
- non-target aquatic organisms (acute and chronic)
- consumers, and
- the trade of the aquaculture produce
For all risk assessments an exposure as well as an effect assessment is
performed following a conservative approach. In the exposure assessment,
concentrations of the aquaculture drug applied either mixed with feed or
directly to water are calculated in the pond water, in the targeted produce and
in the effluent discharge point of the adjacent aquatic ecosystems. The effect
assessment consists of determining safe concentrations for the different
compartments, and is based on the use of safety factors applied to laboratory
toxicity data or food safety standards. The risk assessment is then performed by
following a risk quotient approach, by dividing the predicted exposure
concentration by the predicted safe concentration in the compartment under
study.
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