Sandy Neil

An elementary solution

A certifi cation body has unveiled new tech in the fi ght against seafood fraud

BY SANDY NEIL

HOW can seafood consumers know that what they’re ea� ng is what they’ve paid for, and how can seafood producers assure that their product is authen� c? In the latest development, the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is pioneering new technology in the US to verify seafood back to its farm of origin “with be� er than 95% accuracy”.

How big a problem is seafood fraud? According to US ocean conserva� on charity Oceana: “Seafood fraud is the prac� ce of misleading consumers about their seafood in order to increase profi ts. Along with ripping off shoppers, these ac� ons can have nega� ve impacts on marine conserva� on eff orts and human health.

“Types of seafood fraud include subs� tu� ng one species for another without changing the label, including less seafood in the package than is indicated on the label, adding too much ice to seafood in order to increase the weight and shipping seafood products through diff erent countries in order to avoid du� es and tariff s.”

Oceana says: “Although seafood is one of the most popular foods in the US, consumers are rou� nely given li� le or no informa� on about where their seafood is from. Plus, the informa� on provided on seafood labels is o� en misleading or fraudulent.

“Despite growing concern about where our food comes from, consumers are frequently served the wrong fi sh – a completely diff erent species than the one they paid for. Recent studies have found that seafood may be mislabelled as o� en as 25% to 70% of the � me for fi sh such as red snapper, wild salmon and Atlan� c cod, disguising species that are less desirable, cheaper or more readily available. In order to prevent fraud, consumers need to know where seafood comes from and be able to trace it all the way back to the sea.”

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council’s new technology – based on trace element fi ngerprin� ng (TEF) – will, in part, trace element fi ngerprin� ng (TEF) – will, in part, help the organisa� on help the organisa� on further reduce further reduce seafood fraud seafood fraud and mislabelling, and mislabelling, occurrences all occurrences all too common in both too common in both wild-caught and farmed wild-caught and farmed seafood. seafood.

“The “The problem with fraudulent seafood is the unknown – if it is from an unknown source, it’s not possible to know what other issues it may have,” says the ASC’s Head of Media, Jack Cu� orth.

He explains: “These could range from false claims of species or origin to bad environmental or social prac� ces. That’s why the ASC already invests so much � me and resources in protec� ng the supply chain of cer� fi ed seafood from the farm to the plate, because consumers deserve to know exactly what they’re ea� ng.

“By its very nature, this prac� ce is hard to quan� fy and a lot of evidence is anecdotal. It would defi nitely be wrong to overes� mate the problem, but even one case is too many, and it’s enough of an issue to warrant our a� en� on and keep improving assurance in the supply chain. Emerging technologies like TEF can help us to do that.”

Peter Redmond is Senior Market Development Manager, ASC North America. He says: “If you want to make claims about being the ‘best’ or ‘sustainable’, you must be able to verify where and how the seafood was raised. We are encouraged by the opportunity this technology brings to further strengthen our cer� fi ca� on programme.”

The ASC, which describes itself as the world’s leading provider of farmed seafood cer� fi caleading provider of farmed seafood cer� fi ca� on, says this is “the only cer� fying programme � on, says this is “the only cer� fying programme that can verify your seafood is what that can verify your seafood is what it claims to be, where it came it claims to be, where it came from, how it was responfrom, how it was responsibly raised and how it got sibly raised and how it got to you. to you. “Now, with TEF, the ASC has “Now, with TEF, the ASC has the ability to trace farmed the ability to trace farmed seafood with even seafood with even more accuracy.” more accuracy.” Tests have already been conducted at several ASC- several ASC-

Left: It looks tasty, but what kind of fi sh is it? Opposite: Mislabelled shrimp may come from an uncer� fi ed farm

cer� fi ed shrimp farms in Southeast Asia. In these, the ASC and its partners were able to correctly iden� fy the farms of origin in all samples and achieved be� er than 95% accuracy compared with lower accuracy rates for conven� onal sta� s� cal methodologies.

“The ASC’s use of TEF technology refl ects the concept that ‘you are what you eat,’” says Redmond. “The environment in which you eat, drink and live leaves a footprint in your body, and the same is true of farmed seafood. Trace elements from the local soils, groundwater, surrounding environment and food are taken in by plants and animals and, with our use of TEF technology, we can link them back to their place of origin.”

“While our label is a symbol to consumers that their product comes from a cer� fi ed responsible farm, we also need to constantly adapt to new technologies,” says Wendy Banta, the ASC’s Senior Program Assurance Manager. “Now, with TEF technology, we are further pushing mislabelling and fraud out of this industry and driving what we call, ‘the new way to seafood’.”

Why is the traceability ini� a� ve be� er than relying on, for example, blockchain and verifi ed distribu� on processes?

“All of these methods have their own advantages and they may be strongest when used together,” says Cu� orth. “The Trace Element Fingerprin� ng being trialled by the ASC off ers an excellent level of accuracy when it comes to iden� fying the origin of seafood. At the ASC our cer� fi ca� on is based on individual farm performance, so that accuracy would be a big poten� al advantage for us.

“But the key thing is using diff erent tools in complementary ways. TEF isn’t the only way we’re improving assurance in the supply chain. We will con� nue to work with our partners in shrimp-producing countries to iden� fy risks, educate producers and processors, and inves� gate thoroughly when necessary. We will con� nue to insist on integrity from all our cer� fi ed producers and suppliers. And we will con� nue to develop other tools, such as digitally tracking key product data along the supply chain, to improve traceability.”

He adds: “We’re s� ll fairly early in the process of trialling this technology. Ini� ally it will be used by the ASC in specifi c inves� ga� ons. Eventually its use is likely to become more rou� ne as part of regular ASC assurance opera� ons. But these discussions are in an early stage as we con� nue to test the technology.”

The organisa� on will con� nue to test and refi ne TEF technology and aims to implement it on all ASC-cer� fi ed farms. Consumers can fi nd the sea green “ASC-cer� fi ed” responsible seafood label on more than 19,400 products worldwide. FF

“Consumers are frequently served the wrong fi sh”