Рыба свежая - но это не точно.
These findings are contained in a new Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations/FAO report,Food Fraud in Fisheries and Aquaculture. It presents analytical techniques that can help identify fraudulent schemes.
The paper notes that the phenomenon is much more widespread than in the case of the meat, fruit and vegetable trade. The situation is mainly due to the huge variety of fish and aquaculture products.
Fish fraud is defined in the report as “a deliberate practice intended to deceive others.” And, depending on the type of deception, it can pose a risk to biodiversity, human health or economic systems.
What are the main types of fraud
The main categories of fish fraud include:
– Adulteration (adding dyes to make tuna look fresher);
– counterfeiting (stylization of starchy compounds in shrimp molds);
– imitation (packaging of surimi that imitates crab meat);
– diversion (distribution of legal products outside the target markets);
– mislabeling (e.g. incorrect claims of environmental friendliness);
– market oversaturation (related to overfishing);
– species substitution (selling tilapia as red snapper);
– mislabeling (related to origin and shelf life);
– poaching and theft.
The report suggests harmonizing labeling requirements, mandating the scientific names of products – where possible – and improving traceability systems. The use of advanced techniques such as enzyme immunoassay, stable isotope analysis and nuclear magnetic resonance can be effective, although not available to all market operators.
Evidence base
Although thousands of fish fraud studies have been conducted, demonstrating the widespread prevalence of the problem on all continents except Antarctica, there is a lack of reliable baseline research on the topic.
The global scale of fish consumption, encompassing more than 12,000 seafood species, as well as the diversity of fraud types and the lack of standardized legal definitions of fraud make global estimates difficult to obtain.
However, some studies suggest that up to 30% of seafood in the foodservice system may be mislabeled. The report cites examples from around the world, from kiosks in Latin America and seafood restaurants in China, to canned tuna in the European Union.
In the U.S., up to a third of seafood sold may not match the information claimed on the packaging, with less than 1% of imports passing inspection.
The human health risks associated with some types of seafood fraud are clear. Certain types of fish are particularly dangerous when consumed raw. And re-freezing seafood increases the risk of bacterial growth.
However, the most common reason for fish fraud is economic incentives. For example, nearly all farm-raised Atlantic salmon is sold as Pacific salmon, most of which is caught “in the wild.” This substitution brings in nearly $10/kg.
Farm-raised sea bass labeled as wild sells for two to three times the price of the same fish farmed in Greece or Turkey.
Some fish fraud is perpetrated to conceal the geographic origin of the product or to suppress evidence of catch quota overages. Such practices can pose a risk to the sustainability of fish stocks.
Adding water to unprocessed fish products to increase weight and price is another common practice (also widespread in land animal meat production).
Tools and initiatives
Given the complexity of the problem, detecting fish fraud is no easy task, but the report details how advances in science can help combat fraud.
Devising a standardized method for determining whether (and how many times) a product has been frozen is still an elusive task. But differences in the fatty acid composition of wild and farmed fish can be used to detect fraud.
Carbon and nitrogen ratio surveys – to determine the geographical origin of major commercial fish species – are also applicable.
The report also looks at a number of concerted efforts to combat cases of alleged fraud in Italy, Argentina and the US.
FAO and the Codex Alimentarius Commission are working to develop international standards to combat food adulteration. FAO, through the Joint FAO/IAEA Center, is also providing technical support to Member States that need to strengthen their testing capabilities.
