[9/9/16] A new report suggests that consumers worldwide have a 20 percent chance of purchasing or consuming mislabeled seafood.
A review of more than 200 studies from 55 countries by Oceana, an international ocean conservation group, found that mislabeling occurred in 5,000 of 25,000 seafood samples that were tested.
The species most commonly substituted for other products were hake, escolar and Asian catfish – which was substituted for 18 different kinds of more expensive fish.
The studies showed the problem occurs in every stop along the seafood supply chain, whether it be packaging and processing, wholesale and retail distribution, or imports and exports.
Nearly two-thirds of the studies showed an economic benefit for mislabeling the products.
A U.S. presidential task force looking at the problem announced a proposed rule in February to establish a tracing program in order to collect information about the international harvest of 13 types of seafood considered at risk for fraud. Tracking the chain of custody for these products until they reach the U.S. border would reduce the chance of fraud occurring in imported seafood. Domestically harvested seafood already faces state and federal reporting requirements…CONTINUE READING