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The Fish on Your Plate Might Not Be What the Label Says · How To Protect The Ocean

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  Scientists sometimes run a simple test.
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  They go into the grocery stores or fish markets, or even restaurants.
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  They buy seafood just like you would when you're at these places and
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  they bring those samples back to the lab and they test the DNA.
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  What they find.
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  It's often surprising.
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  The fish on the label is not always the fish in the package.
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  In some cases a substitution is harmless, but in other cases it
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  hides illegal fishing, endangered species or seafood that was caught
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  in poorly regulated fisheries.
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  And researchers have discovered that this problem is more common than you realize.
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  This is the How to Protect the Ocean Podcast, your weekday Ocean news update.
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  And today we're gonna be talking about seafood fraud, how rampant
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  it is and what we can do about it.
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  But if you wanna stay informed about this type of Ocean news updates,
• 0:48
  please hit that follow button so you don't miss tomorrow's story.
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  The key question today, how common is seafood mislabeling?
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  And it could be seafood fraud.
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  Over the last 15 years, scientists around the world have used DNA
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  barcoding to test seafood products.
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  DNA Barcoding allows researchers to identify species by sequencing a
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  small genetic marker and comparing it to global reference database.
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  So basically they take the filet or whatever they buy, they do a genetic test.
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  They take a sample, they run it through like a genetic test, And
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  then all of a sudden they look at that gene sequence and they say, okay.
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  Let's run it through the database doesn't match this other species DNA sequence.
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  And if it does, which species is it?
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  And then they can identify which species, where it is found around the world.
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  'cause the same species, if they're found in different parts of the world,
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  might have different genetic markers.
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  We could talk about that another time 'cause that's kind of a cool thing.
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  But they'll compare it to those databases.
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  And when researchers compare the DNA results to the label on the
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  package or the menu, they often find mismatches, which is a little surprising.
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  Multiple studies have documented this problem.
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  So in 2013, a global meta-analysis published in the journal of PLOS
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  One found that approximately one in three seafood products, that's
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  33% worldwide, were mislabeled.
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  Now, whether they're done on purpose or not, we don't really know.
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  There's a lot of stuff that can go to which we'll dive into.
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  But other regional studies have shown a similar pattern.
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  For example, a 2013 study, you know, by Oceana in the United States, tested more
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  than 1200 seafood samples from 21 states and found that 33% were mislabeled.
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  In Canada as a 2019 investigation by the University of Guelph, my alma mater, and
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  Ocean Canada, which is right down the road from me in all relative, of course, found
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  that 44% of seafood samples from grocery stores and restaurants were mislabeled.
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  European studies have also documented substitution.
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  A 2018 review published in food control reported mislabeling rates across
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  Europe, ranging from 10 to more than 30%, depending on the species and the country.
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  So some examples of that
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  seafood substitution, researchers have identified many specific
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  substitution patterns.
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  Most of the common ones include red snapper substitution.
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  Red snapper is one of the most frequently mislabeled fish in North America.
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  Many studies have found that products labeled as red snapper are actually
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  tilapia, like freshwater fish, rockfish, lane snapper, and vermilion snapper.
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  In some studies, less than 10% of tested samples labeled red
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  snapper were the real species.
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  So less than 10% were actually the species.
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  There's also the case of escolar is sometimes sold as
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  white tuna in restaurants.
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  Escolar contains high levels of indigestible wax esters.
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  And eating large portions of the fish can cause digestive problems known as
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  chiari, sometimes called oily diarrhea.
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  Doesn't sound like a fun time.
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  Because of these health concerns, Japan and Italy restrict the sale of
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  Escolar, yet it still appears in markets disguised as tuna in some country.
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  That's pretty scary when not only do you not know what the fish is, it could be
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  something that could give you problems.
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  Now you have sometimes farm fish labeled as wild.
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  DNA testing cannot always distinguish farm versus wild fish directly.
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  But investigators have found cases where farmed Atlantic salmon was sold as wild
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  Pacific salmon, which is crazy to think.
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  They're very different colors.
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  People here in Canada hate farmed Atlantic salmon and if they want something like
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  Wild Pacific salmon and they figure out that they get Atlantic salmon, not great.
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  So particularly in restaurants where supply chains are hard
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  to track, you get this problem.
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  Wild salmon commands a higher price, creating incentives for mislabeling.
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  So if you mislabel Pacific salmon, but it's, really atlantic
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  salmon, you can charge a higher price and make more money off it.
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  So obviously some corruption there.
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  It attacks the consumer, which it makes for people not wanting to
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  buy seafood, especially if they don't know what they're buying.
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  So it has a stain on the retailer or the supermarket or the fish market or
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  the seafood market that's selling it.
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  It just kind of taints the whole idea of trying to buy salmon in
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  general or any kind of fish where you know this kind of happens.
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  So sometimes you get endangered species sold as a generic names.
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  So some studies have found threatened shark species sold under vague labels like
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  flake, rock salmon or just simply fish.
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  That's the label.
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  It's just fish.
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  Talk about not enough information.
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  Just fish.
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  DNA testing in Europe revealed that products labeled a rock salmon were
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  sometimes actually spiny dogfish or endangered shark species.
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  If you think about again, it causes mistrust in the
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  seafood industry in general.
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  Whether people are trying to do it on purpose or not, it just causes mistrust.
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  And to be honest.
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  I know at one point there were people that were trying to design like in
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  hand DNA sequencers, so they can go around and they can sequence the DNA
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  of some of these fish so that they know if they truly are that type of fish.
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  But I feel like supermarkets or seafood markets should have these DNA
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  testers if they're still in existence.
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  I don't know if they actually work well.
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  But they should have that so they can show the transparency that yes, this
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  fish is exactly what you are buying.
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  So seafood supply chains are pretty long and complex from wherever the
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  seafood's fished or taken out of the Ocean all the way to the retailer,
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  that could be a global trip.
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  And so sometimes it can get lost in translation.
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  Fish may pass through multiple hands before reaching consumers, which we
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  talked about in yesterday's episode, where Carolinian fishers were fishing and then
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  the shrimp or whatever they caught would go towards into the supply chain and they
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  would never find out where they sold it.
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  It would just go into these, like secret supply chains where nobody
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  would know where they were going.
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  So a typical chain can include the fishing vessels, the landing sites
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  where the fishing vessels come in, export companies, processing plants,
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  importers, distributors, wholesalers and restaurants or grocery stores.
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  That's a lot.
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  That's like eight different places where they can change hands.
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  And that's just the different types.
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  It doesn't mean that there might be more than one export company
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  or more than one import company, depending on where the fish is going.
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  Substitution can occur at many points in this change.
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  So substitution of fish or the mislabeling, a fish on purpose,
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  which would be fraudulent.
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  Filets often look very similar once the skin and bones are removed.
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  To most people, it's sometimes it's accidental, but
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  sometimes it's on purpose.
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  I remember being in a restaurant with my professors and it was a seafood
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  restaurant and they brought a fish, I forget what the name of the fish.
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  They brought a fish.
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  And the professors were like, they're ichthyologist, like
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  they are fish biologist.
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  And they looked at, it's like, this is not what I ordered.
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  And the waiter was like, what do you mean?
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  He's like, well, I ordered haddock, but this is not haddock.
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  And they're just like, well, no, this is haddock.
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  It's like, no, see the bone structure and everything, they knew from the
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  bone structure, but not many people are that good at understanding what a filet
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  looks like for what species of fish.
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  So that could be a difficult thing to look for.
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  That could be a difficult thing to identify when you're just trying to
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  eat and you're not trying to think about, Hey, I'm gonna this place.
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  I wanna know if it's actually real, the fish that I order, or
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  is it something different that could actually harm my body, or I'd
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  be eating an endangered species.
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  That's not why I'm eating the seafood.
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  I want to eat sustainable seafood, but sometimes you just can't do it.
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  In many cases researchers believe the substitution is economically motivated.
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  So they replace a high value fish with a cheaper species that can
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  significantly increase profits.
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  For example, substituting tilapia for red snapper can multiply the margins,
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  the profit margins several times.
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  Why does this matter to you?
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  That's the big question.
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  Why does this matter to you?
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  Seafood mislabeling is not just a consumer protection issue.
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  It can also hide major environmental and governments problems.
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  Mislabeling can conceal illegal fishing, illegal, unreported, and unregulated
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  fishing accounts for an estimated 20% of global Marine catch according to the
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  Food and Agriculture Association and FAO.
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  If illegally caught fish enters markets under false labels, enforcement
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  becomes extremely, extremely difficult unless, like I said, you have one
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  of those portable DNA samplers.
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  Then it also has observed overfished species problem, when an endangered
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  or heavily exploited species are mislabeled, as more sustainable ones,
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  consumers cannot make informed decisions.
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  This undermines sustainability certifications and
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  responsible seafood program.
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  So something like MSC, the Marine Stewardship Council often
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  gets criticism for certifying specific supply chains for fish.
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  But people know that these supply chains have been found to be fraudulent in times.
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  And unfortunately, it kind of tarnishes the reputation of MSC,
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  which is trying to do its best.
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  It's trying to do its due diligence.
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  This is a complex situation.
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  It's hard to get all the data and you have to admit when that certification
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  may not have been the best and you may have to go back on it.
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  Sometimes it doesn't happen.
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  I don't know why.
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  I don't wanna talk ill of some of these certification programs, but
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  some people really, really dislike it and others are like, well, they
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  do their best with what they have.
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  So if most of their 400 supply chains that are certified are
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  good, then we're probably okay.
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  But what if we're eating some that are not certified well?
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  And so that could be a problem.
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  Of course, when you're talking about fishing and overfishing, you're
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  talking about human rights abuses.
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  Some fisheries are linked to forced labor and poor working conditions also have
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  been associated with seafood fraud because like if they're gonna treat humans like
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  that, they don't care about the consumer.
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  Traceability gaps allow products from these fisheries
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  to enter the global market.
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  So when, a lot of times just to explain what fishery slaves are, essentially
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  what happens is, people from different countries, but a lot of 'em are from
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  like Malaysia, the Philippines and other island countries who may not known to
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  be the richest countries, and a lot of people are part of the fishing community.
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  They will go on these boats with a promise of money and good care
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  for their families and so forth.
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  And they will go on these boats for like months at a time, sometimes years at a
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  time, and they won't come back to shore.
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  So these boats will go out and fish as much as possible, probably
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  doing illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing, IUU fishing.
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  They go out for a long time and then they never come back.
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  So if you're sick, you don't eat properly, you don't get treated properly.
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  You're working really long hours and people get sick.
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  And there have been cases where it's been documented where people
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  are just being thrown overboard
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  because they're too weak to do anything.
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  Or they don't come home.
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  A lot of times they can't see their families, they can't bring the money home.
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  A lot of times, they'll remove their passports and their traveling papers
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  just so they can't get off the ships when they go into port to bring in their fish.
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  And a lot of times, they're exchanging the fish to these large ships that are on the
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  Ocean, that are basically just warehouses.
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  They just dump all their catch into there, they log it, and then they go back home.
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  That those ships just travel back home.
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  So basically like shipping containers.
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  That's what we look at when we are looking at fisheries around the world
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  like this is you get human rights abuses.
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  And so when you have those human rights abuses, you also
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  don't have good traceability.
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  So the seafood could be fraudulent, probably most likely.
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  And so that could be a difficult thing.
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  That seafood mislabeling, that seafood fraud in a nutshell, tomorrow we look at
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  why seafood traceability is so difficult in the first place, you'd think it'd be
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  like an easy thing to solve, but it's not.
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  And why tracking a fish from the Ocean to plate remains one of the biggest
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  challenges in global seafood governance.
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  If you like this type of episode where you get weekday updates on the
• 11:29
  Ocean news, hit that follow button so you don't miss tomorrow's episode.
• 11:32
  We're gonna talk about why seafood traceability is so
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  difficult in the first place.
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  But I also want you to share this with a friend who's interested in
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  seafood, wants to make the right choices and has some, you know,
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  some ethics and has some integrity.
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  If you have friends like that, send this over to them and help them
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  be educated on what they can do when it comes to choosing seafood.
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  I wanna thank you for joining me on today's episode of the How
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  to Protect the Ocean Podcast.
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  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.
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  Have a great day.
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  We'll talk to you next time and happy conservation.