NIFS announced that as the result of its survey on Paralytic Shellfish Poison(PSP)*, it detected PSP toxin(0.9mg/kg) in excess of permissible level(0.8mg/kg) from the wild mussels harvested along the coast of Gamcheon-dong, Busan.

*Paralytic Shellfish Poison(PSP) is the toxin accumulated in the tissues of bivalve shellfish (such as mussels, oysters, and clams) and tunicates (sucah as sea squirt, styela clava, etc.) when they consume the toxic plankton. PSP occurs mainly in Korea, but when and where it occurs are different every year.

However, other 23 stations aross Busan, Gyeongnam and Jeonnam - except the one station detecting the toxin this time - did not detect the toxin. The occurrence status can be checked on the website of NIFS. 

The Busan Metropolitan City has made efforts to step up the management for fisheries products safety such as prohibiting bivalve shellfish and tunicates harvesting in the coastal areas where PSP toxins in excess of the permissible level were detected, posting warning signs, etc. 

Given the possibility that the further expansion of the sea areas experiencing PSP occurrence and/or PSP exceeding the permissible level, NIFS will, joining forces with local governments, strengthen its survey on the areas by conducting its survey at least once a week.