Seafood fraud has become a growing problem in the US, with companies sneaking fake seafood ingredients into foods such as crab, lobster and salmon.
International fishing companies commit massive fraud by putting cheap substitutes into seafood instead of offering suppliers and consumers the real deal.
“Seafood fraud is perhaps one of the most fraudulent issues consumers encounter on a regular basis,” said Max Valentine, Oceana campaign director. Business insider.
Things like the cost of seafood and fishing tactics play a role in the fraud, and studies have shown that 84 percent of the seafood eaten in the U.S. is imported.
Despite the fact that seafood fraud is becoming more common, there are still ways for consumers, chefs and other experts to tell if some of it is real.
International fishing companies put cheap substitutes in your seafood instead of serving the real deal
Things like the cost of seafood and fishing tactics play a role in the fraud, and studies have shown that 84 percent of the seafood eaten in the U.S. is imported.
Seafood fraud caught the attention of the nonprofit Oceana years ago, and they carried out one of the crackdowns largest studies in practice from 2010 to 2012.
Oceana collected more than 1,200 seafood samples from 674 stores in 21 states.
Based on U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines, 33 percent of samples were found to be mislabeled.
Oceana also concluded in 2012 with a seafood competition fraud report that 56 of the 142 samples they took from 81 stores in New York were mislabeled and that more than half of the locations in the state sold mislabeled fish.
Seafood mislabeling refers to individuals or companies selling one type of fish or shellfish as another.
An example of this fraud, according to Business Insider, is when a restaurant takes a $3 tilapia and passes it off as a $17 red snapper.
Recent study through Oceana now show that seafood is mislabeled 25 to 75 percent of the time on fish such as red snapper, wild salmon and Atlantic cod.
“Consumers are being ripped off,” said Oceana vice president Beth Lowell CNN in 2019.
‘We’ve been testing seafood for nine years now and every time we do a study we think, ‘Maybe we won’t see a problem anymore’, but we keep finding it and we know it’s having an impact on our oceans. .’
Oceana concluded in a 2012 seafood fraud report that 56 of 142 samples they took from 81 New York stores were mislabeled
Valentine, who is also an expert on seafood fraud, discussed the decline of the fish population in places like Chesapeake Bay – a wetland where fishermen can catch Maryland Blue Crabs.
“Population levels have declined due to water quality issues in the environment, especially in the Chesapeake Bay,” Valentine said.
She added that Maryland Blue Crabs are now selling for “astronomical prices” and are in limited supply.
This was likely one reason why 40 percent of Maryland Blue crab cakes in Washington DC and Maryland were mislabeled in 2015.
“It turned out to be a swimming crab from Southeast Asia, which is incredibly cheaper,” Valentine told Business Insider.
The tuna fishing industry is also raising concerns, including the common mislabeling of bluefin tuna.
“The tuna fishery is especially difficult to manage because tuna are naturally migratory, and as a result, tuna fishing vessels typically fish in multiple jurisdictions,” Peter Hammartstedt, campaigns director at Sea Shepherd, told Business Insider.
Another problem is “fake tuna,” which, according to Business Insider, also includes individuals trying to sell Escolar, an inexpensive fish that may contain high levels of mercury.
“If you can be successful in that fraud, the returns are enormous,” Valentine said.
Maryland Blue Crabs are sold for ‘astronomical prices’ and 40 percent of Maryland Blue crab cakes in Washington DC and Maryland were mislabeled in 2015
The tuna fishing industry is causing concern, partly due to the common mislabeling of bluefin tuna
Beyond retail, suppliers and restaurant chains have had their reputations tarnished in the past due to their fraudulent seafood decisions.
Law enforcement officials have busted a Virginia seafood supplier for labeling 400,000 pounds of imported crabs as American products.
Michael Casey of Casey’s Seafood pleaded guilty in 2019 to falsely labeling the crab meat and revealed that he knew about the fraudulent activities as early as 2010.
The imported crab meat came from Indonesia, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Central and South America.
Casey was sentenced to nearly four years in prison later that year, and Casey’s Seafood, Inc is now permanently closed.
The Frankie & Benny’s restaurant chain also ran into trouble in 2014 after its superiors admitted to using only 45 percent real crab in its crab bruschetta, with the rest made up of reconstituted fish paste.
The restaurant chain still exists, but has dropped the crab bruschetta and in 2015 received the lowest rating in the seafood sustainability rating.
Fortunately, there are ways you can tell the difference between real and fake seafood.
The restaurant chain Frankie & Benny’s uses only 45 percent real crab in its crab bruschetta, with the remainder made up of reconstituted fish paste in 2014
Business Insider handed Valentine a can of crab to use so she could explain some ways to tell which fish is real or fake.
“What’s really great is that the company has put a lot of information on the back of the package,” Valentine said.
The container stated that the lump crab was ‘wild caught’ and that it was a ‘Blue Swimming Crab’ from Indonesia.
Any crab can or container that does not contain this brief information is a red flag, and at that time it is best for consumers to purchase a Maryland Blue Crab “whole and alive” from April through December.
Valentine also advised consumers to remember that if a package in a supermarket says “Bluefin Crab” it is likely fraudulent.
According to Max Valentine, farm-raised salmon fillets typically have a lighter pink color than wild-caught salmon fillets.
New York chef Preston Clark advised consumers to love lobster and make sure they buy it alive and cut it up themselves
The seafood fraud expert also explained how to tell the difference between real and fake salmon: wild-caught and farmed.
“Farm-raised salmon fillets are usually a slightly lighter pink in color than a deep, vibrant red,” says Valentine.
“Your farm-raised salmon fillets will have more of that marbling… Be a little meatier, bigger and fatter because they don’t have to work as hard to survive in the ocean as they do to survive in pens.”
Another way to get people to buy real shellfish is to get them whole, get the produce fresh, and cut them up yourself.
New York chef Preston Clark advised consumers to love lobster and make sure they buy it alive.