Oceana report says Canada needs better regulations to curb seafood fraud, mislabeling

Article By Barb Dean-Simmons Published August 6, 2021
Article Source: Oceana report says Canada needs better regulations to curb seafood fraud, mislabeling | SaltWire

What’s really in the package?

In its latest report on seafood mislabeling and fraud, released Aug. 4, Oceana Canada suggests the federal government has not followed through on its 2019 promise to implement seafood traceability program.

Oceana says its research — involving DNA testing of seafood samples in restaurants and grocery stores in four major Canadian cities — showed 43 per cent of the samples were mislabeled.

Oceana says its testing of 94 samples found 10 instances where products labelled as butterfish or tuna were actually escolar, which is banned from sale in several countries, and can cause acute gastrointestinal issues.

One of the species of fish found in the samples is not authorized to be sold in Canada.

“Among 13 samples labelled snapper, seven were actually tilapia, which is a much cheaper fish.

The mislabeling rate among retailers was 6.5 per cent, lower than the 25 per cent combined average from Oceana Canada’s previous studies. 

The report is an update on earlier research conducted by Oceana Canada.

Between 2017 and 2019 the group tested 472 seafood samples in the four cities and found 47 per cent of seafood was mislabeled.

Ocean says its lates report report shows very little improvement in the results.

In fact, Oceana says the mislabeling rate among restaurants increased from 56 per cent to 65 per cent, since the 2019 report.

And that’s not always the fault of the restaurant, said Sayara Thurston, seafood fraud campaigner for Oceana Canada.

“Because of Canada’s opaque seafood supply chains, retailers and restaurants can themselves be victims of fraud, and even correctly labelled products could have been fished illegally or unknowingly sourced from forced labour,” she said.

The Oceana report does not name the grocery stores or restaurants where the mislabeled fish was found.

There’s a reason for that, Thurston said.

“This can happen at any point in the supply chain and a restaurant or grocery store can, themselves, be an unknowing victim of this mislabeling.”

The report, she said, is just to show the need for … government to put in place a mandatory system of traceability for seafood products in Canada.”

The latest report from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), however, produced different math regarding the mislabeling of seafood. 

The agency said it had conducted testing on 362 samples of seafood collected across Canada from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020, of fresh, frozen, dried and salted fish fillets to determine through DNA if the fish in the package was actually what was on the package label.

“Targeted sampling was based on risk-factors such as an establishment’s history of non-compliance and species most likely to be substituted,” CFIA said in its report. The nine types of fish of highest interest to CFIA were: butterfish, cod, halibut, kingfish, sea bass, snapper (red and other), sole, tuna and yellowtail.

The agency said of the 323 samples tested, 91.8 per cent were deemed satisfactory.

About two thirds of the samples were one of the nine targeted types of fish and the rest were other species, said the department.

“Although species sampling was not representative, the results show that the fish most often misrepresented include kingfish, red snapper and sea bass.”

According to CFIA data, 69 samples were taken from domestic processors and 95.7 per cent of those samples were deemed satisfactory. 

Of the 125 imported samples tested, 94.4 per cent were deemed satisfactory.

And CFIA’s testing of 158 samples of fish packaged by retailers showed 88 per cent were satisfactory.

The agency noted that since the testing targeted fish species that were considered to be high risk for mislabeling the results do not represent the overall compliance rate in the Canadian marketplace.

CFIA says it will continue to monitor fish products for compliance with regulatory requirements.

The department says it also encourages consumers to report any food fraud concerns. Reports can be made through the department’s website. 

Meanwhile, Thurston said, Oceana encourages consumers to try to buy seafood from local fishmongers when they can.

“The shorter the supply chain the less likely you’re buying a mislabeled product,” she said.

Consumers should also ask questions of the grocery store or restaurant to determine how much information they have about the fish they’re selling.

“Know what should be in season and the prices you should be seeing. If something seems too good to be true it probably is,” said Thurston. “Look for whole fish which is much harder to mislabel than filleted fish.”

She said these are all things consumers can do to ensure they are buying properly labelled seafood.

“But ultimately it shouldn’t be up to consumers to ensure fish is properly labelled,” she said. 

It’s the responsibility of the federal government, and departments like Fisheries and Oceans and the CFIA to have stringent regulations to curb seafood fraud.

Thurston said while other countries are strengthening their seafood traceability systems, or developing new ones, Canada is falling further behind.

The European Union and the United States have traceability schemes in place for their seafood and Japan is developing one now, she said.  

“Canada does not require that seafood include information proving its origin, legality or sustainability status. Experience from other countries shows that boat-to-plate traceability regulations work to stop fraud and protect both consumers and our oceans.”