A new study has found that over ten percent of all seafood sold in Australian supermarkets and restaurants is not the type of fish that it claims to be, compromising the health and wallets of Australians.
Published in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports on Aug. 3, the report revealed the extent of mislabelling amid a rise in the consumption of fish in the country, particularly as an increasing number of health-conscious look to bolster their diets with beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and other various nutrients found in many varieties of fish.
Among the 672 seafood products tested, 12 percent showed clear evidence of mislabelling, with the DNA of the fish not matching what the packaging, menu, or market signage indicated. Sharks and snappers were the most likely to be substituted with another species.
Only a quarter of the products named a particular species, with the rest using vague umbrella terms such as ‘flake’ and ‘snapper.’
Ambiguous labelling was a serious problem alongside incorrect labelling, according to marine scientist Chris Wilcox, who co-authored the study funded by the marine and medical research charity Minderoo Foundation.
“Flake, for instance, officially refers to the gummy shark but is often misused to describe any type of shark meat,” Mr. Wilcox said.
“Fifteen of the mislabelled flake products were actually elephant fish, which are only distantly related to sharks.
“In one instance, we found flake served as battered fish and chips was actually school shark.”
These poor-quality labels often concealed the sale of seafood with lower nutritional quality, reduced value, or potential health risks, the researchers wrote.
The team assessed seafood samples across six groups: hoki, prawns, sharks and rays, snapper, squid and cuttlefish, and tuna.
To provide an appropriate representation of the seafood consumed in Australia, the selected seafood varied, including wild-caught fisheries, aquaculture farmed, processed and unprocessed, packaged in various forms and ranged from $3.43/kg (US$2.25) to $299.90/kg.
Processed seafood includes cooked, frozen, battered, marinated, smoked, peeled, or prepared in a meal, and unprocessed includes raw and fresh.
- Hoki, prawns, tuna
- Squid and cuttlefish
- Snapper, sharks and rays
“Consumers are advised to purchase seafood from a reputable fishmonger or restaurant. If they’re concerned fish they have purchased is mislabeled, they should contact the supplier in the first instance,” a spokesperson for FSANZ told the Epoch Times.
US Seafood Sham
Mislabelling rates in Australia are similar to other wealthy countries like the United States and point to a wider problem that needs to be addressed.A U.S. consumer advocacy organisation found that 18 percent of the time, the type of fish written on placards, labels, or menus did not match the actual fish sold.
“Consumers are getting ripped off when they buy fish,” said Kim Kleman, editor-in-chief of Consumer Reports.
Of the 22 red snapper samples taken, only eight had the possibility of actually being red snapper. Additionally, all ten of the supposed lemon soles sampled were not actually lemon soles. Instead, they were cheaper and more plentiful fish varieties like flounder.
“Whether deliberate or not, substitution hurts consumers in their wallets when expensive seafood is switched for less desirable, cheaper fish. It hurts people in their health when they mistakenly eat species that are high in mercury or other contaminants,” Ms. Kleman said.
“Consumers should be able to rely on the labels to represent what’s actually in the package. We wouldn’t accept that in other products, so we shouldn’t have to accept it in seafood,” Mr. Wilcox added.
