Mitigating against fraudulent seafood labelling

Seafood fraud is happening on a global scale, meaning the food industry must balance increased production volumes with high standards of quality. Paul Macintyre, Aquaculture Director – Customised Assurance at Lloyd’s Register explores the role retailers and food chain suppliers can play to protect consumers.

A global concern

Fraudulent labelling continues to be a concern, with 40% of seafood samples from 30 countries being mislabelled, according to recent analysis. Before looking at the role of retailers and food chain suppliers in protecting the consumer, it is important to understand the global landscape.

Seafood fraud invariably involves a cheaper species of fish or seafood being described and passed off as being a more expensive product. In China, Irish oyster products are being labelled as French by rogue traders looking to make a profit off the French-based esteemed Gillardeau name. Given the country’s position as the largest fish captor in the world, this is particularly concerning. Other incidences occur through the mislabelling of different species of fish in the same family. 48% of samples tested from Germany labelled as king scallops, for example, were really Japanese scallop. 

Seafood fraud incidences around the world poses a threat to both retailers and consumers. While some incidences of fraud are less dangerous than others, the severity of the rising issue is nevertheless important. If fishing is not appropriately managed, there could be a number of reputational problems.

Managing the threat 

Mislabelling – both in terms of what products are and their origin, and false sustainability claims – is a common threat which is illegal and misleading. It also puts consumer safety at risk and undermines the work of honest and transparent producers. As such, retailers have an important role to play in ensuring seafood products are responsibly sourced from sustainable fisheries and fish farms. At the same time, suppliers should ensure that products are what they say they are. This can be done by ensuring supply chain systems are implemented to meet demands in terms of consumption, authenticity, as well as environmental and social criteria. 

In Lloyd’s Register’s 2019 survey of UK consumers, 72% expected retailers to know the precise ingredients of all products sold. Similar logic could be applied to traceability expectations, and there are ways to ensure that products are what they say they are. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)’s Fisheries label, for example, appears on products from a sustainable fishery and is only awarded when fisheries fit criteria following a robust assessment of:

• stock status
• environmental impact of fishing methods
• management control

With much of our seafood now coming from commercial wild caught fisheries, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) logo is another recognised standard used for farmed fish to encourage responsible fish farming. 

Currently around a third of UK seafood sales through retailers bear the MSC blue tick. However, to ensure consumer expectations are met retailers should look for MSC and ASC labels as a requirement. For those handling MSC and/or ASC certified products, the Chain of Custody Standard ensures that both the blue MSC label and the green ASC logo are only displayed on seafood products that can be traced back to source. 

At a time when fraudulent labelling is happening globally, seafood assurance can offer certainty and protection that produce is authentic and safe. To be stamped out, retailers must teach consumers to look out for the logos. This relies upon consistent labelling from suppliers, and complete transparency from farm/sea to fork.

To find out more about Lloyd’s Register’s end-to-end solutions for food supply chain assurance, please visit: www.lr.org/en-gb/aquaculture/ 

This article first appeared in the May 2021 issue of Industrial News.