Recent reports in the European Union are found in Task 3.2.5 in Scientific Co-operation and Networks, "Assessment of dietary intake of dioxins and related PCBs by the population of EU Member States", 7 June 2000; from the Scientific Committee on Animal Nutrition, "… on the Dioxin Contamination of Feedingstuffs and their Contribution to the Contamination of Food of Animal Origin", adopted 6 November 2000; and from the Scientific Committee on Food, "Opinion of the SCF on the Risk Assessment of Dioxins and Dioxin-like PCBs in Food", adopted 22 November 2000. As new scientific information on the toxicity of dioxins has been published, the Scientific Committee on Food updated its opinion on  30 May 2001.

Key observations from these reports, with respect to aquaculture, are that dioxins are present in fish meal and fish oil and, as a result, they are present in fish. The tolerable weekly intake (TWI) in the EU for humans is set at 14 pg/kg* body weight. This is in line with the provisional Tolerable Monthly Intake of 70 pg/kg body weight per month established by the joint FAO/WHO Joint Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) at its meeting in June 2001.

The UK Food Standards Agency states that the health benefits of eating moderate amounts of fish, including salmon, as part of a healthy balanced diet outweigh any potential risk from dioxins and PCBs, and recommends two portions (of 130g) of fish a week, one of which should be oily.