Changes in the Toxicity of Paralytic Shellfish Poison during Storage of Canned Blue Mussel ( Mytilus Edulis ) and Oyster ( Crassostrea Gigas )
Paralytic shellfish poison threatens public health most seriously from April to early May every year and gives adverse effects on export of these products. Major shellfish products exported were canned oyster, Crassostrea gigas and blue mussel, Mytilus edulis. Toxicities of canned shellfishes with toxin of low levels were mostly inactivated during the processing; in contrast, residual toxicity was of great concern with canned products from highly toxic shellfishes. This study was to provide basic data to establish food safety measure by evaluating the changes of toxicity during 2 year storage of canned products with toxic blue mussel and oyster. Any significant difference was not observed between two samples. Boiled can and smoked can showed inactivation of toxicity to some extent, whereas acidified can did not show reduction of toxicity even after 2 year storage. In case the initial toxicity of shellfish was high long term storage could not inactivate the toxicity of the canned product.