Sushi mislabeling appears to be trending downward in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A., according to recent findings from a decade-long Loyola Marymount University (LMU) study.
The study, which was published in the journal Food Control, found a 65 percent drop in mislabeling rates among restaurants participating in the Los Angeles Seafood Monitoring Project, with which LMU is a partner.
Additionally, LMU researchers recorded a 19 percent dip in the average rate of mislabeled sushi samples collected across Los Angeles over a 10-year period.
“Never has a study tracked mislabeling for so long, nor has a study been able to show a significant change due to intervention,” said Demian Willette, lead author of the study and associate professor of biology at LMU's Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering. “Our findings illustrate that awareness and intervention are critical to our ongoing efforts to reduce fraudulent labeling in seafood.”
Sushi Nozawa Group (SUGARFISH/KazuNori/Nozawa Bar) Co-founder and CEO Jerry A. Greenberg cited the collaboration among Los Angeles Seafood Monitoring Project participants as a big contributor to the mislabeling decline.
“This success was achieved because people across disciplines got together to fix a problem that we all saw as solvable,” Greenberg said. “Positive change happens when restaurants, government, and researchers sit down at the same table and work toward solutions.”
The study’s authors support Greenberg’s theory.
“We found mislabeling was ...
