Research Document - 2014/009
Harvesting seal products of high quality for human consumption
By P-Y Daoust and Zoé Stacey
Abstract
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 help 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. This Research Document 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.
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