April 3, 2013 — Let’s take a closer look at how seafood fraud pulls some tricks of its own. But what is seafood fraud, you ask? To put it simply, anytime consumers or buyers purchase a seafood product that is not what they are paying for—is fraud.
The most common form of seafood fraud is short-weighting, which happens when processors overglaze, soak, and/or over bread seafood to manipulate or misrepresent its weight. Products might also be mislabeled to avoid higher import tariffs. However, the practice of “seafood substitution” is what has made recent news. Seafood substitution occurs when a species is mislabeled and substituted in whole or in part for a different species—disguising a low valued species as a more expensive one. The good news is that the seafood industry, academia, and federal and state governments are proactively developing solutions to protect consumers from fraud. The Better Seafood Board , formed by members of the National Fisheries Institute in 2007, helps restaurants, retail operations, and manufacturers report suppliers who commit economic fraud. The board encourages seafood buyers who have unresolved issues with suppliers for selling short weight or otherwise mislabeled products to contact their hotline at 1-866-956-4272 to document these issues.
In our digital age, technology is helping fight fraud in more ways than one. Many companies are using QR codes—digital codes that redirect consumers to a website—where they can learn specific details about their seafood. One California sushi joint is even serving their fish labeled with a QR code printed on edible rice paper, which directs diners to sustainability information from yours truly—FishWatch.gov.
Seafood distributors and retailers are busily investing in new ways to increase our ability to track seafood from ocean to plate. Through Washington, D.C.-based ProFish, restaurants that purchase ProFish seafood can provide diners with QR codes linking to the supplier’s FishPrint program , which shows when and where the seafood was harvested, who caught it, and how sustainable it is, along with the Latin genus of that species and nutritional information for good measure.
Tagging fish is another way to trace seaood products from origin to market. By tagging red snapper and grouper harvested in the Gulf of Mexico with unique numbers, Gulf Wild™ tracks each fish back to its fishermen and resolves any fraud issues from the start. Chefs and consumers can look up a product’s tagging number on a website displaying a photo and bio of the fishermen who caught it, as well as a map of where and when the fish was caught. And yet another program, Gulf Seafood Trace , uses electronic trip ticket systems to find and confirm data about a multitude of fisheries products—from their harvest location all the way to the consumer’s dinner plate.
Read the full story at NOAA FishWatch