Now that the investigation conducted by weights and measures inspectors in 17 U.S. states and publicized by the mainstream media has exposed the prevalence of short-weight seafood to the public, the question now is, "What's next?"
"There were three prongs to enforcement. The first was to get the product off shelves. Now, individual states will take their own enforcement actions," Judy Cardin, weights and measures chief for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, told SeafoodSource on Monday. "In Wisconsin, enforcement will range from a warning to potential forfeiture actions depending on the severity of the problem, including prior history."
During the four-week investigation, the results of which were released last week, more than 21,000 packages of short-weight seafood were removed from the point of sale, and inspectors found ice comprising up to 40 percent of the product weight.
Cardin, who organized the investigation, said all 17 states sent copies of their inspection reports to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for review.
"The FDA would have to determine whether or not it will follow up with enforcement," said Cardin. "I think the FDA is taking its responsibility seriously in involvement on the federal level with some of these larger vendors."
Cardin added that she was not surprised by the investigation's results.
"We've been doing testing of ice glazing in Wisconsin for a few years now, so we weren't surprised. We have found prior problems with it and expected that the problem has not be cured on a national level," she said.
The National Fisheries Institute, which prompted the investigation, agreed with Cardin.
"[The results] confirmed what everyone was saying. It is a problem," said Lisa Weddig, director of regulatory and technical affairs for the National Fisheries Institute and secretary of the Better Seafood Board. "This demonstrates to regulatory agencies, Capitol Hill and suppliers and importers that the problem does exist."
Weddig added that the investigation's results may reveal trends among short-weighted seafood. That way, she said, the FDA can determine if it needs to increase inspections of specific products.
Additionally, the media's coverage of the investigation put a "consumer face" on the problem, bringing more attention to it and, potentially, resulting in more action.
"We know short weighting from an industry standpoint. It's business issue well before it's seen by consumers, and we certainly want to stamp it out as far up the value chain as we can," said NFI spokesman Gavin Gibbons. "With these latest tests, it's put a new consumer face on it so we find if it's getting more attention despite the fact that it's not really a consumer-oriented issue — it's wholesalers, suppliers and importers that are the first line of defense."
Cardin said she hopes the investigation's results will not steer consumers away from seafood and that it will teach them to ask more questions when purchasing the protein so they know they're not getting ripped off.
April 7, 2010
