100 signatures reached
To: Humza Yousaf, Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care
BAN SCOTTISH SALMON IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS
We urge the Cabinet Secretary to ban the serving of farmed Scottish salmon in schools in Scotland, owing to the presence of dioxin and dixon-like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBS) in farmed salmon, the well established health risks they pose and new data which suggests further controls may be needed to protect children from the harmful effects of chemicals in Scottish salmon.
Why is this important?
Current cautionary guidance from Food Standards Scotland(FSS) is clear, but requires further updating following new data from the European Food Standards Agency, suggesting the exposure of young people to farmed Scottish salmon needs to be further reduced.
The most up to date guidance concerning oily fish consumption can be found on the FSS website.
This recognises that these fish can contain low levels of pollutants that can build up in the body.
For this reason, there are maximum recommendations for the number of portions some groups should be eating each week.
The following people should eat no more than 2 portions of oily fish a week:
- girls
- women who are planning a pregnancy and women of reproductive age
- pregnant and breastfeeding women
This is because pollutants found in oily fish may build up in the body and affect the future development of a baby in the womb.
Pilgrim House, Old Ford Road, Aberdeen, AB11 5RL
www.foodstandards.gov.scot
However, a recent study in Europe found that exposure to these chemicals may need to be reduced by up to 75%, for both boys and girls. Meaning that children should be consuming no more than 50gms of farmed salmon per week.
https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.2903/j.efsa.2018.5333
Current Government policy is to promote increased consumption of farmed Scottish Salmon in schools.
Scottish salmon also has a range of very severe environmental impacts on Scotland:
- https://archive2021.parliament.scot/S5_Environment/Inquiries/20180305_GD_to_Rec_salmon_farming.pdf
How it will be delivered
The petition will be delivered in person to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood.
