Establishment of a test guideline for the evaluation of fish tainting

Abstract A Test Guideline has been established for determining the potential of a chemical to taint seafood. This Guideline, based on the exposure of fish and the evaluation of the imparted taint by a triangular test, has been evaluated in a small ring test in which five laboratories tested four chemicals with three fish species. The Guideline also contains a procedure for estimating the loss of taint from the test species during a depuration phase in clean water. None of the following factors appeared to have a large or systematic effect on the evaluation of the potential to cause taint : the performing laboratory; type of water used (sea- or freshwater); fish species; evaluation by flavour or by odour; method of preparation and presentation of samples for sensory evaluation.