Developing an Assurance Scheme for Shellfish and Human Health (DASSHH)
The DASSHH project ran from 2018 to 2022. It aimed to develop an improved approach to determining shellfish water quality that ensures consumer safety and meets regulatory requirements. The project also considered the challenges posed by fluctuating water quality in many UK shellfish aquaculture areas.
Project goals
The DASSHH project focused on:
- Understanding sources of microbial contamination: Investigating how microbial contamination occurs and how environmental factors influence contaminant uptake by shellfish. This knowledge helps producers to manage the risk of harvesting contaminated products.
- Assessing risk and mitigation: evaluating the risks associated with microbial contamination and identifying effective post-harvest measures to ensure shellfish are safe to consume.
- Developing a risk-based management system: Creating a management system that complements existing production area classifications. This allows for a more flexible, collaborative regulatory approach while giving producers the tools to manage their operations in real time.
Project Partners
DASSHH was coordinated by Seafish on behalf of the Shellfish Stakeholder Working group (SSWG). Key partners included:
- Camel Estuary in Cornwall and Conway and Menai East in North Wales. This work was progressed by the Shellfish Centre at Bangor University.
- Belfast Lough in Northern Ireland. This work was progressed by the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute.
Links were also made with similar work in the Shetland Isles led by Seafood Shetland and Shetland Seafood Quality Control Ltd.
Next steps
Alongside the Official Control Regulation (OCR) review, the findings from DASSHH support the development of a risk-based approach to shellfish management. It forms the basis of an assurance scheme that can work with the existing regulatory framework and is approved by the relevant food standards agencies.
Further information
You can download the reports from the project here: