Have you disinfected your boots? A case study of food safety and biosecurity practices of a salmon farm in Chile

This article explores the food safety practices and biosecurity measures
of a Chilean salmon farm. The farm participated in detailed
discussions on biosecurity and farm food safety practices and, in
addition to the biosecurity measures, the following all play important
roles in ensuring fish health and reduction of mortalities and
outbreaks: optimum stocking density, respect and coordination
between different farm sites in relation to the Area Management
Agreement, and quality of smolt during fish transfer. From this
and other studies, it is evident that we need to look for a balance
between biosecurity measures and management factors; however,
we are still unable to quantify biosecurity measures. One practical
and cost-effective way would be to look at past epidemiological
and mortality data and the period when biosecurity measures were
applied to see if there was an association between application of
biosecurity measures and subsequent reduction in mortalities and
infections. If yes, then this is a good sign signifying that the strict
biosecurity measures are working. Similar to Good Aquaculture Practices, biosecurity measures need to be adopted as a whole
package, and the reduction of one point may have significant
consequences on the whole process. The present study captured a
snapshot of real-time farm food safety and biosecurity practices of
a Chilean salmon farm. However, because of the limited nature of
this study, the findings should not be extrapolated to all farms in
the country or region