The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) – which has been giving fish fraudsters a run for their money by way of a project targeting the dastardly trend of mislabeling products – is being acknowledged for its use of state-of-the-art DNA technology to keep raw deals out of the seafood industry.
The project, known as Fish Seafood Compliance and Labeling Enforcement or SCALE for short, has been proven so effective in its aims that the Department of Health and Human Services in the U.S. has recognized it with an HHS Innovates Award for outstanding success with DNA testing. Project Fish SCALE is one of seven HHS projects to be bestowed with the annual award, and the only FDA program to be recognized.
“The integration of high tech science, to root out fraud, with good old fashion training and promotion, to prevent it, is a winning combination found in Fish SCALE,” said Lisa Weddig, Secretary of the Better Seafood Board. “Paying this type of strategic attention to seafood fraud will make a real difference.”
Back in October 2014, Fish SCALE research compiled over the course of two years showed that 85 percent of commercial seafood, tested as wholesale, was labeled aptly. Many major suppliers and seafood industry mainstays are grateful for the FDA’s SCALE program and willingness to allocate resources to higher risk species.
“The enforcement of correct labeling is vital to the integrity and future of the seafood community. It’s great to see such strong and focused efforts from the FDA recognized,” said BSB Chairman Jamie Marshall, senior vice president of food service at Trident Seafoods. “Mislabeling hurts businesses that are doing the right thing as much as it does consumers.”
BSB was created by the National Fisheries Institute as a means to help industry partners in the supply chain more easily report on suppliers suspected of committing seafood fraud. “BSB encourages the FDA’s science-based approach and supports the innovate DNA testing initiatives provided by the Fish SCALE project,” according to an organizational statement.
