More Than One-Third of U.S. Shrimp May Be Mislabeled, Study Says
Farmed shrimp is often substituted for wild, keeping consumers in the dark.
October 30, 2014
Shrimp may be America's favorite seafood, but consumers may not always get what they ask for. According to DNA analyses conducted by the environmental advocacy group Oceana, 35 percent of shrimp sold in U.S. grocery stores and restaurants was improperly labeled by species or type, raising questions about food safety and complicating efforts to promote sustainability.
Oceana's study of shrimp mislabeling, released Thursday, is part of a broader effort to uncover and address fraud in the American seafood marketplace. In February 2013, Oceana released a study of mislabeling in finfish, which found that one-third of the fish sold at retail outlets was not what the label said it was.
In June 2014, the Obama administration announced it would propose new rules for the seafood industry by the end of the year. And just last Friday, the Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for oversight of fish, issued a report based on DNA analysis of 700 samples collected from wholesalers and importers in 14 states. The FDA found that an average of 15 percent of fish was mislabeled, especially higher-priced species like snapper and grouper.
Taken together, these efforts represent the most comprehensive action to date to address the problem of seafood fraud.
