TITLE XIII SEAFOOD ARTICLE 325 Seafood Is

title xiii ========== seafood ======= article 325. seafood is any edible invertebrate animal whose normal life environment is in

TITLE XIII
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SEAFOOD
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ARTICLE 325. Seafood is any edible invertebrate animal whose normal
life environment is in water. This includes mollusks, crustaceans,
echinoderms, tunicates, and others.
ARTICLE 326. Seafood that can remain alive outside their natural
environment (bivalves, crustaceans, echinoderms, and tunicates), when
dispensed fresh, must be kept alive until the time of sale. 1
ARTICLE 327. Fresh seafood is seafood that has been recently caught
and not subjected to any process after extraction. From the time of
extraction, the necessary measures shall be taken to reduce the
temperature of the products, by means of appropriate mechanisms that
do not pollute the extracted resource.
During the distribution of these products, they must be kept at
temperatures not to exceed 5 °C. 2
ARTICLE 328. Chilled fresh seafood is seafood that, after extraction,
has been chilled to a temperature between 0 and 3 °C in order to
preserve it during distribution.
ARTICLE 329. Frozen seafood is seafood that, immediately after
extraction, has been processed and subjected to a maximum temperature
of -18 °C, measured in its thermal center.
ARTICLE 330. To evaluate the freshness of seafood, the following
characteristics must be observed:
Bivalve and gastropod mollusks:
a.
General appearance: alive, good appearance;
b.
Smell: fresh and natural;
c.
Physical stimulation: closing of valves in bivalves, retraction
inside of or under the shell in gastropods.
Cephalopod mollusks:
a.
Appearance: highly defined pigmentation with intact
chromatophores; smooth, healthy, and intact skin;
b.
Smell: neutral;
c.
Color: natural, white meat, firm and pearly;
d.
Tentacles: well attached to the mantle;
Shellfish:
a.
General appearance: alive, good appearance, no melanosis;
b.
Eyes: black, bright, and turgid;
c.
Muscle consistency: firm;
d.
Thoraco-abdominal membrane: strong, bright, and clear;
e.
Smell: neutral;
Echinoderms:
a.
General appearance: alive, good appearance;
b.
Smell: natural;
c.
Spicules: mobile and erect.
ARTICLE 331. Seafood to be marketed for human consumption must be free
of parasite cysts. 3
ARTICLE 332. Total Volatile Basic Nitrogen (TVB-N) in fresh, chilled,
and frozen seafood, except for shellfish, shall be 30 mg/100 grams
maximum. In shellfish, it must not exceed 60 mg/100 grams at maximum.
ARTICLE 333. Shellfish for human consumption may not contain more than
80 mcg/100 g of paralytic shellfish poison (PSP), not more than 20
mcg/g of amnesic shellfish poison (ASP), nor test positive on the
Bioassay test for diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) toxin.
In areas declared affected by red tide by the health authority, the
health authority itself shall set forth, by resolution, the shellfish
species whose collection or capture is prohibited. In such areas, the
Health Service may authorize, by substantiated resolution, the
collection, capture, and industrial processing of shellfish
contaminated with red tide toxins in cases where it is shown that
their processing reduces toxin levels below the limits set forth
herein. 4
ARTICLE 334. Seafood exposed to possible contamination, whether
natural or man-made, must be subjected to a purification process, and
the health authority must monitor the safety of the purified product.
ARTICLE 335. The installation and operation of establishments for
breeding, growing, fattening, and purification of shellfish for
consumption, as well as nurseries dedicated to the sale of these
species, must be located in places with clean water, whose
microbiological conditions allow the products to meet the requirements
of Title V of these regulations and have the authorization granted by
the corresponding Health Service.
1 Article amended, as indicated in the text, by Decree No. 475/99, of
the Ministry of Health, published in the Official Gazette on 01/13/00.
2 Article amended, as shown in the text, by point 5.- of Decree No.
45/06, of the Ministry of Health, published in the Official Gazette on
07/12/06.
3 Article amended, as indicated in the text, by Decree No. 475/99, of
the Ministry of Health, published in the Official Gazette on 01/13/00.
4 Article amended, as indicated in the text, by Decree No. 475/99, of
the Ministry of Health, published in the Official Gazette on 01/13/00.