This report from Coalition for Fisheries Transparency members the Environmental Justice Foundation and Open Seas finds that UK consumers may unknowingly be buying seafood linked to illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing and human rights abuses. The report highlights that the frequency with which catch certificates are checked has fallen dramatically following the UK’s exit from the EU. It points to the high volume of UK imports originating from countries which are seen as high risk of IUU fishing and catch traceability fraud, including consignments likely to be Russian catches routed via 3rd countries in order to avoid sanctions.
seafood (5)
This publication (open access) describes the launch of FISH-FIT. FISH-FIT is a biobank of seafood species samples which are linked to an authentic database of morphology, genetic information, and other physical characteristics. It also contains a library of PCR analytical methods. It was developed under an EU-funded project and free access is currently only available to EU regulatory bodies, although wider access is planned. The databank is hosted by the Max Ruber Institute.
FISH-FIT has been added to FAN’s index of authenticity reference databases, a useful search tool for existing databanks or commercial testing services..
(image from the paper)
This review (open access, pre-publication) collates published surveys of seafood mislabelling in Asia (the time period reviewed is not stated). The authors list results along with the testing methodologies used, listing separate results for China, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Taiwan. Some surveys, particularly of specialist fish powders or premium smoked fish products, reported mislabelling rates of 70 or 80%. More typical mislabelling rates for fillets sold as a single species were around 7 or 8%.
Abstract
Seafood fraud is commonly reported on food fraud databases and deceptive practices are highlighted by numerous studies, with impacts on the economy, health and marine conservation.
Food fraud assessments are a widely accepted fraud mitigation and prevention activity undertaken to identify possible points of deception within a supply chain.
This study aims to understand the food fraud vulnerability of post-harvest seafood supply chains in the UK and determine if there are differences according to commodity, supply chain node, business size and certification status.
The SSAFE food fraud vulnerability assessment tool was used to assess 48 fraud factors relating to opportunities, motivations and controls. The analysis found seafood supply chains to have a medium vulnerability to food fraud, with the highest perceived vulnerability in technical opportunities.
Certification status was a stronger determinant of vulnerability than any other factor, particularly in the level of controls, a factor that also indicated a higher perceived level of vulnerability in smaller companies and the food service industry. This paper also reviews historic food fraud trends in the sector to provide additional insights and the analysis indicates that certain areas of the supply chain, including uncertified prawn supply chains, salmon supply chains and food service companies, may be at higher risk of food fraud. This study conducts an in-depth examination of food fraud vulnerability relating to the UK and for seafood supply chains and contributes to a growing body of literature identifying areas of vulnerability and resilience to food related criminality within the global food system.
Read full paper: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-024-00272-z
In spring 2021, Oceana Canada tested 94 seafood samples from retailers and restaurants in four major
Canadian cities: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Halifax and found that of the samples tested, 46 per cent were mislabelled.
This is consistent with national testing conducted between 2017-2019, which showed that 47 per cent of 472 seafood samples tested were mislabelled in some way. Of these,
51 per cent of 373 samples were previously mislabelled in the same four cities tested.
Read full report.
