A recent study of U.S. seafood mislabeling has found that mislabeling is less of an issue for the most common species eaten by American consumers but more persistent with species that carry lower consumption rates.
The study, published in the journal Food Control, surveyed seafood mislabeling in the U.S., finding that species substitution was relatively rare in the top 10 most consumed U.S. seafood categories, occurring in only 13.9 percent of cases.
Of the 10 most popular seafood products, crab was the species most likely to be substituted, the study found.
Crab, the study noted, “is especially vulnerable to species substitution due to the range of values associated with different crab species on the commercial market combined with varying supply and demand of certain species."
"For example, a series of U.S. Department of Justice court cases revealed that a shortage of domestic blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) beginning in 2010 led two seafood processors to substitute the product with foreign crab meat and falsely label it to continue to fill orders,” the study said.
Cod, pangusius, shrimp, canned tuna, and salmon were all subject to species substitution in more than 10 percent of cases, according to the study, which attributed some of the species' low substitution rates to relative low market value.
Less common species were much more likely to be substituted or mislabeled. Tilapia was often substituted for higher-value, less common species, such as red snapper, which was mislabeled in 83.3 percent of cases.
Species substitution rates were found to be the highest in seafood markets, followed by restaurants, a trend which has been creating concern among retailers and charges of unfair competition from the ITC in recent months. Grocery stores were the least likely to mislabel or substitute species.
