Seafood mislabelling in Singapore
2022
Neo, Sean | Kibat, Caroline | Wainwright, Benjamin J.
Seafood is one of the most processed and imported foods worldwide and is vulnerable to mislabelling and product substitution practices. The consequences of these practices are diverse, ranging from enabling the further depletion of already overfished stocks to the harvesting of endangered species. A potential consequence of seafood mislabelling is “fish laundering” where illegally caught fish are deliberately mislabelled to avoid regulations. As a maritime nation, Singapore relies heavily on seafood as a source of nutrition with an average seafood consumption of 22 kg per capita. In this study, we used mitochondrial DNA barcoding of the cytochrome c oxidase Subunit-I to investigate the prevalence of seafood mislabelling in retail outlets throughout Singapore. We successfully barcoded and identified 42 different species, of which 23 were mislabelled based upon comparison to the FDA Seafood List or local species names meaning they were sold under names not reflecting their true genetic identity. In total, 26% of the samples we identified were mislabelled. The three most frequently mislabelled fish were Anoplopoma fimbria (Sablefish) sold as Black Cod, Dissostichus eleginoides (Patagonian toothfish) sold as Cod or Seabass, and Pangasianodon hypophthalmus (Iridescent shark) sold as Dory or Bocourti. Mislabelling of seafood products can have serious negative implications on human health, erode customer confidence in the products they consume and make marine conservation planning challenging.
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