Infectious dose/dose response: There are no data on the amount of wax ester likely to cause illness. The question of whether there is general susceptibility to diarrhoea from consumption of the wax esters has not been resolved, and is complicated by the oil content of oilfish species varying between individual fish and across the cross-section of individual fish fillets (Yohannes et al. 2002).
Levels in seafood: Lepidocybium flavobrunneum (escolar) and Ruvettus pretiosus (oilfish) contain approximately 20 per cent (by weight) of indigestible wax ester oil (Nichols et al. 2001).
