Latest Testing Provides Reassurance on Safety of Lough Neagh Fish

We use some essential cookies to make this website work. We’d like to set additional cookies to understand how you use GOV.UK, remember your settings and improve government services. We also use cookies set by other sites to help us deliver content from their services. You have accepted additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. You have rejected additional cookies. You can change your cookie settings at any time. Latest results from the Food Standards Agency (FSA) reaffirms that fish from Lough Neagh is safe to eat, and existing food safety advice remains unchanged. Image of a scientist in a laboratory The FSA has completed its 2025/26 sampling programme, with the findings supporting the continuation of existing FSA food safety advice for fish from Lough Neagh. Food businesses, such as commercial fisheries, are reminded to follow good processing procedures such as proper evisceration to remove intestines, liver and gills where cyanotoxins can accumulate. Advice to recreational anglers remains unchanged – they should ensure that they only eat edible flesh of fish that have been properly gutted, and that the fillets are rinsed with clean water to remove any contamination from the gutting process. The FSA has been monitoring fish from Lough Neagh since the significant blue-green algal bloom emerged in summer 2023, testing different species to understand the levels and types of cyanobacterial toxins that may be present. The FSA sampling programme assessed fish from Lough Neagh between May 2025 and March 2026 for a range of cyanotoxins, which can be produced by the blue- green algal (cyanobacterial) blooms in the Lough. “These latest results provide further reassurance that fish from Lough Neagh are safe to eat. FSA food safety advice remains unchanged. “Food businesses should continue to follow good processing practices, including removing the intestines, liver and gills where cyanotoxins can accumulate. “Recreational anglers can continue to eat their catch, provided care is taken when gutting fish and fillets are rinsed with clean water before cooking or freezing”. The following links open in a new tab Share on Facebook (opens in new tab) Share on X (opens in new tab) Updates to this page Published 20 August 2026 Is this page useful? Maybe Yes this page is useful No this page is not useful Thank you for your feedback Report a problem with this page Help us improve GOV.UK Do not include personal or financial information like your National Insurance number or credit card details. To help us improve GOV.UK, we’d like to know more about your visit today. Please fill in this survey (opens in a new tab and requires JavaScript ) .

Source: Original reporting via Food Standards Agency