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Anitest project (an infectivity assessment method for anisakis-free aquaculture) ends

  • December 9th, 2021
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We have reached the end of the ANITEST project, co-financed by the Programa Pleamar, ith the collaboration of the Biodiversity Foundation, of the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, co-financed by the FEMP. During the development of this project we have been able to obtain very interesting results about the infective process of Anisakis spp. larvae in sea bream (Sparus aurata) from aquaculture, as well as their real susceptibility to the parasite. Based on the results obtained in our experiments, we have been able to establish chronologically the migration and implantation events of the parasite within the fish throughout the infective process. Although 63.3% of the fish were infected (at 6 months), parasite loads are very low and only 10.2% of the larvae manage to establish. Also, these larvae were found only on the surface of the viscera, so that the muscle was never infected and the consumer would rarely be affected in a hypothetical infection of a fish. This reflects an apparent low susceptibility of sea bream to infection by anisakis larvae and why this parasite is not as infallible as originally thought. However, specific studies with the different fish species that could potentially be affected by anisakis would be necessary in order to continue to consider aquaculture as anisakis-free.