SEAFOOD.COM by John Sackton — December 11, 2013 — Out of 320 products tested with DNA, 1 % were found to be mislabeled. A control group of unlabeled products was also tested, and 5% were found to be species other than what was named on the package.
The MSC has a chain of custody process, and users are required to be certified to chain of custody periodically.
The MSC recently completed independent DNA testing on randomly selected MSC-labelled products, to show that the MSC chain of custody program is working to maintain high standards of product identity.
Out of 320 products tested with DNA, 1 % were found to be mislabeled. A control group of unlabeled products was also tested, and 5% were found to be species other than what was named on the package.
David Stone, standards communication manager, said that In order to extend the reach and value of the MSC DNA testing, they added additional species this year, including haddock, tuna and halibut.
In addition, a smaller control group of non-MSC certified seafood products were also tested, which revealed five per cent were mislabelled.
“This is an important test for the MSC,” explains MSC product integrity manager, Alison Roel, “because it provides consumers and MSC stakeholders with added assurance that MSC-labelled seafood has been correctly labelled.
“Our DNA analysis provides an additional means of helping our partners protect their investment in the MSC program, and we’re going to continue to expand the test to increase our overview of the chain of custody program. Any cases where mislabelling is identified will be referred to the certifiers of the supply chain so they can be further investigated,” she said
This story originally appeared on Seafood.com, a subscription site. It has been reprinted with permission.