Speaking at a recent conference, Dr Anne-Marie Brady of the VMD said that adhesions (the 'threads' of tissue which form between the body-wall and internal organs, or from organ to organ, in vaccinated fish, and which are an indicator that the vaccine has 'taken') impact on two areas - animal welfare and customer/retail issues.

A necessary evil Vets look to find some sign of adhesions to show that vaccine has taken successfully, but where threads are thick or widely-dispersed, their removal during processing can leave marks on the fillet - and as Martin Cooke of Tesco pointed out to delegates: "If the customer can see it, he won't buy".

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