Fish Vet Group, a U.K.-based aquaculture health provider, announced Thursday, 7 April that it has received an import tolerance approval from the United States Food and Drug Administration for azamethiphos, the active ingredient in the group’s sea lice treatment products.
Fish Vet Group, a Benchmark Holdings company, said it had worked for five years to gain the approval for the ingredient.
“The import tolerance approval allows salmon farmers in Norway, Chile, Canada, Faroe Islands, the U.K. and Ireland to import and sell fish treated with its Salmosan, Salmosan Vet and Byelice products into the U.S. market," a company spokesperson said in an emailed message to SeafoodSource.
According to the company, sea lice is an increasing welfare issue that costs the international salmon farming industry more than USD 500 million (EUR 439 million) per year. Global farmed salmon production is approximately two million tonnes, with more than 10 percent of that total reaching the U.S. market.