2008/782 Development of international scientific partnerships and insights into technical market access for shellfish

By Catherine MacLeod

This travel grant was related to research into market access of abalone to the European Union (Market Access for Abalone: Seafood CRC Project 2008/909). In order to gain information on the technical barriers to trade and assist the abalone industry's desire to regain market access to the EU, a meeting was held between Dr Catherine McLeod (Post Doctoral Scientist, Shellfish Food Safety, SARDI) and Dr Paolo Caricato (DG SANCO, European Commission, Health and Consumers Directorate-General, Directorate E - Safety of the Food Chain) on 11 June 2009 in Brussels.

Informal agreement was reached that the current implementation of the EC mollusc legislation is a problem for the Australian wild capture abalone sector and is likely inappropriate relative to the risk. The EC suggested that the approach used to manage marine biotoxins for the capture scallop industry would be more appropriate. Follow up to this meeting will involve submission (industry and AQIS agreed) of data gained through Project 2008/909 to the European Commission to assist in regulatory decision making and facilitate market access of wild capture abalone to the EU.

Furthermore, this grant allowed travel to the 2009 International Conference on Molluscan Shellfish Safety (ICMSS) which is the premier event for shellfish safety issues where industry, regulators and scientists come together to discuss emerging food safety trends and challenges, regulatory management issues, research outcomes, new analytical techniques and research priorities.

Following the conference, several field trips were undertaken to oyster and mussel production areas on both the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts, and meetings were held between Australian regulators, scientists and industry members and various French oyster industry representatives and research providers.