SEAFOODNEWS.COM by John Sackton — October 30, 2014 — Oceana put out with great fanfare a false report today claiming that 30% of the shrimp sold in the US is mislabeled, and also blasting the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch list for having shrimp listed in all three categories: best choice, good alternative, and avoid.
This is part of an Oceana campaign to scare American consumers about seafood. They recently put out a similar report on mislabeled fish, not bothering to tell readers that all but one of their samples were of snapper and grouper species, where there is a well known mislabeling issue that has also been flagged by the FDA.
In fact, FDA DNA testing on seafood has found 85% of seafood is correctly labeled as to species, and the only areas where there has been found to be misrepresentation is in the snapper and grouper category.
This Oceana shrimp report, which was begun in 2013, was timed to coincide with a new California labeling law, also pushed by Oceana, that would have required seafood sellers to use the FDA common market name, rather than the legal name now required by FDA, when selling fish.
In the shrimp category alone, this would have meant using around 40 different species names for shrimp, including things like Chinese shrimp, Jack knife Prawn, and Banana prawn. Instead, the FDA requires that virtually all 40 species be labeled shrimp except for two Gulf of Mexico species, Royal Shrimp and Rock Shrimp. If the law had been successful, as Oceana intended, overnight virtually all shrimp in California would have been 'mislabled', and their claims would have been accurate.
But the law was vetoed by Governor Brown, leaving Oceana empty handed.
Their big problem is that their DNA research did not uncover any wrongdoing on the part of retailers or restaurants. Yet they tried to spin their findings into a major scandal.
Some of the falsehoods in the report, as summarized by NFI include:
“The majority of restaurant menus surveyed did not provide the diner with any information on the type of shrimp.”
NFI says "This is not fraud. Restaurants are not required to provide information other than noting that the product is “shrimp.”
“Forty percent of the 20 shrimp species or categories collected and identified were not previously known to be sold in the U.S.”
Again, there is nothing illegal about this. Why is this included in a mislabeling report?
"No samples that were labeled as “farmed” were mislabeled, while over half of the samples labeled simply “shrimp” were actually wild species.”
To suggest this finding is an attempt at fraud exposes an ignorance about how this type of scheme is intended to work. Intentionally labeling wild shrimp as farmed or not highlighting the “wild” attribute, actually costs the merchant money.
“This study was not designed to be a scientifically representative survey of authenticated shrimp products typically available on all menus and grocery stores…”
Oceana focused on wild shrimp. Only 3% of its tests centered on farmed, while more than 75% of the market is made up of farmed – creating statistically skewed results.
“Two samples from one bag were tested and found to be different species…”
These samples did not reveal any fraud. It is not misleading to mix different species of shrimp in a single package labeled “shrimp.”
We could go on. The FAO lists 17 commercial species of shrimp found in the Gulf of Mexico, although only three -white, brown, and pink shrimp, represent virtually all of the catch. The fact that a stray shrimp of a different species may have gotten into a trawl is not a scandal, it is simply an artifact of how shrimp is fished.
The problem is that Oceana is trying to create a fear among consumers of fraud where none exists.
The report was also remarkable for its attack on the Monterey Bay Aquarium's seafood watch list. Monterey Bay lists most Gulf white and brown shrimp as 'good alternative'. Oceana says "consumers may be frustrated that “shrimp” can appear on the Best Choices, Good Alternatives and Avoid sections of the list, yet as research presented here demonstrates, they are often not given enough information on packaging or menus to make these distinctions."
Oceana also says "After further investigation into the shrimp categories on the Seafood Watch website, additional information shows that not all U.S. wild-caught shrimp are Best Choices or Good Alternatives, while some imported and domestic farm-raised shrimp (e.g. “black tiger”) are actually best choices." Monterey Bay says the same thing in their seafood watch list.
The upshot is that this report should destroy any remaining credibility of Oceana in regards to seafood labeling and fraud. They have produced an inflammatory report from biased samples in a non-scientific manner, and criticized restaurants and retailers for following current laws.
Oceana may not like the fact that retailers do not have to label their shrimp by common name, but it is not fraud when they do not do Oceana's bidding.
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It is reprinted with permission.