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One-third of fish are not labeled the way they should be. That’s exactly what the new report released by Oceana, an international ocean advocacy group, suggests. Continue reading
prREACH
Mar 08, 2013 /prREACH/ --
Las Vegas, Nevada – The common practice of labeling ingredients in consumer goods in the United States exists for the safety and health of anybody who purchases products. However, based on a recently published study by Oceana; an international seafood advocacy organization as well as a detailed report published on Health and Wellness portal BeWellBuzz.com, it seems that a large portion of ingredient postings for many popular seafood items are a bit 'fishy' indeed.
The United States of America is the second largest consumer of seafood products globally, with only China eclipsing the incredible demand of this traditionally healthy food commodity. However, between the years of 2010 to 2012, Oceana tested 1,215 independent fish samples purchased from 674 different retail outlets to test the DNA and accuracy of seafood products sold in 21 states. The purpose of this test was to ensure that products that were labeled as being a certain type of fish were indeed accurate.
After testing was completed, it was determined that labeling fraud was rampant in all of the 21 US States, with some states such as California seeing overwhelming amount of fraudulent test results. In fact as much as 52 percent of subjects tested in Southern California were shown to not be accurate for what was displayed in the labeling and packaging of this product.
Among the leaders in misleading information were the two most popular seafood items sold in the United States; Red Snapper and Tuna. In fact, based on the report from Oceana which was sent to worldwide media outlets via a press release, out of 46 types of fish, 27 or 59 percent were deemed to be mislabeled. The biggest offender of mislabeling of fish included sushi-restaurants which across the board averaged 74 percent mislabeling of fish products sold at their locations.
“Some of the fish substitutions we found are just disturbing,” said Dr. Kimberly Warner, report author and senior scientist at Oceana, as a part of the press release sent to media outlets. “Apart from being cheated, many consumers are being denied the right to choose fish wisely based on health or conservation concerns.”
According to the report posted at BeWellBuzz.com, this recent Oceana report is not the first time Oceana had discovered fraud in seafood product labeling. In fact, in 2010, both Oceana and the Boston Globe confirmed that as much as 48 percent of fish products sold in the greater Boston area were not labeled correctly. This recent report combined with the recent findings by Oceana has raised legitimate concerns over the proper identification of fish products being consumed by millions of American residents each day.
“Consumers have a right to know what they’re eating, what they’re buying and they’re getting the value that they think they’re getting,” said Susan Murray, Oceana Deputy Vice President; Pacific Division. “Fish is a wonderful healthy think to eat and you want to know that the choice that you make is what’s going in your mouth."
To read more detailed examples of information discovered in the Oceana and BeWellBuzz.com reports, please click the link to the article posted below on BeWellBuzz.com.