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GOURMET NEWS FEBRUARY 2015 www.gourmetnews.com GENERAL NEWS 8 Seafood Fraud Continued from PAGE 1 Oceana, seafood consumers today are often misinformed about precisely what it is that they are eating. Oceana estimates that as much as 70 percent of seafood on American restaurant menus and behind retail fish counters may be mislabeled. The organiza- tion identifies red snapper, wild salmon and Atlantic cod as among the most com- monly mislabeled fish, often substituted with cheaper and more readily available products. Seafood fraud is not only impact- ing consumers by causing them to pay higher prices for lesser quality seafood, it can also be threatening to human health, misleading consumers into unknowingly eating a species that may contain mercury or other contaminants. In addition, fraud inhibits consumers from being able to make eco-friendly decisions about what fish they choose to eat. It is necessary for authorities to tackle the problems of IUU fishing and seafood fraud in tandem, in part because these two illegal activities feed into one another. Illegally caught seafood often makes its way into the American market by being mislabeled as perfectly legal products. Thus, by curbing pirate fishing and ceasing the importation of illegally fished animals into this country, consumers are more likely to be offered properly labeled seafood. Concomitantly, by carefully monitoring seafood being sold in this country for fraud, it will help authorities identify and prosecute those engaged in the enterprise of IUU fishing. "We are concerned about both [seafood fraud and IUU fishing], but the solutions are similar," said Beth Lowell, Seafood Fraud Campaign Director for Oceana. "Seafood fraud allows for IUU-caught fish to be laundered into the legal market. Both seafood mislabeling and IUU fishing can be stopped by the same types of solutions." A casualty of IUU fishing in foreign seas, America's domestic fishing industry is being crippled by this illegal practice. The overall economic impact of the U.S. fishing industry is estimated at $90 billion, annually, and the industry supports over 1.5 million jobs. Companies that are engaged in IUU fishing can significantly cut their operating costs and raise profits, thus enabling them to un- dercut those who choose to fish legally. The result is a potential loss of American jobs and a hit to this country's economy. "IUU fishing and seafood fraud really hurt domestic fishing, because [American fishers] are competing in a market with il- legally caught seafood. That puts fishermen at a disadvantage," said Lowell. She points to the American market for red snapper as a particularly apt illustration of the delete- rious impact seafood fraud can have on U.S. fishers. In a recent Oceana study, only seven out of 120 red snapper samples tested were in fact the real thing – just 13 percent. "If you're a red snapper fisherman, you're put- ting your product into a market that is wa- tered down by things that are not actually red snapper. Red snapper fishermen should be making a lot more money," said Lowell. For the average American consumer, the issue of seafood fraud is likely to be a more direct concern than that of IUU fishing. In 2011, Consumer Reports conducted DNA testing of a variety of fish species purchased at local grocery stores and found the prob- lem of mislabeled seafood a pervasive one. Only four of 14 samples of Chilean sea bass, coho salmon, bluefin and ahi tuna tested were found to be properly labeled. All 10 fish labeled as lemon sole and 12 of 22 fish labeled as red snapper were not what they claimed to be. And one fish la- beled as grouper was actually found to be tilefish, a species known to contain danger- ous levels of mercury. Consumer Reports also identified discrepancies with catfish, grey sole, halibut, King salmon, Sockeye salmon and Yellowfin tuna. Last year, Oceana conducted extensive testing of one of the most popular seafood items sold in American restaurants and gro- cery stores: shrimp. The organization found an alarming degree of fraud. After conducting DNA testing of 143 shrimp samples gathered from 111 grocery stores and restaurants, the organization found 30 percent to be misrepresented. "We kept hoping that every time we did a seafood study, we would stop finding seafood mislabeling. That hasn't happened. It really indicated that we need to change the way we look at seafood labeling in the United States," said Lowell. With many American favorite seafood items currently overfished or in danger of being so, it is necessary that consumers make intelligent, informed decisions about the fish they choose to consume if global fish stocks are to be maintained at sustain- able levels. Of course, this is impossible to accomplish if consumers have no idea about precisely what it is they are being sold. According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, an expert source on seafood sustainability and the organization behind the popular Seafood Watch ® program, fish that should be avoided as unsustainable in- clude Pacific cod, mahi mahi, orange roughy, imported shrimp, swordfish and Bluefin and Yellowfin tuna. These are all fish that have been found misrepresented in the American seafood market. Still, Oceana continues to look at the sea with optimism, believing that, with proper management, fish populations can return to the sustainable, harvestable levels where they once stood. "Fisheries are a resource, and fisheries can rebuild and get to levels where we could have seafood forever. We really need to have a global system where people fish by the rules," said Lowell. "If you save the oceans, we can feed the world, but we have to make sure that people are playing by the rules." Adding to the challenge of combating IUU fishing and seafood fraud is the fact that U.S. federal investigators have been stretched to the limit by shrinking budgets and limited personnel. Although President Obama announced a crackdown on illegal fishing and seafood mislabeling in 2014, the number of skilled expert investigators at NOAA is down, casting doubt on exactly how much the U.S. government is actually prioritizing these concerns. With the recent December release by the Presidential Task Force on Combating Ille- gal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing and Seafood Fraud of its recommendations for confronting these issues, the federal government has committed itself to step- ping up its enforcement game. The report contains 15 specific recommendations di- vided into four larger themes. First, the taskforce recommends strengthening en- forcement efforts by increasing the re- sources devoted to the inspection of seafood imports. Second, the United States is urged to explore diplomatic and trade-re- lated responses to IUU fishing. Third, the federal government must pursue expanded partnerships with state and local govern- ments and other non-governmental organ- izations, where affected parties can combine their efforts. And finally, the task- force recommends that the federal govern- ment develop a "risk-based traceability program" for tracking imported seafood from the point-of-harvest to the point-of- entry into the United States. Lowell and the team at Oceana are thrilled by the progress that is currently being made at the federal level toward pro- tecting the world's oceans. "The President's and the administration's commitment to this seem real and strong. We believe that we have many of the tools that we already need under our fisheries management, food safety and illegal wildlife trading laws. What the President's taskforce is doing is putting all of these people in a room that don't always work together but should," said Lowell. "I hope that when these final recommendations come out and we see how they're implemented, federal agencies can craft a plan that helps consumers, helps the oceans and helps the industry." The efforts by the White House-assem- bled taskforce do not represent the only government response to the major chal- lenges facing the global and domestic seafood industries today. The Food and Drug Administration is already hard at working developing its own response to the encroaching problem of seafood fraud. The FDA first established its Guide to Accept- able Market Names for Seafood Sold in In- terstate Commerce in 1993, and the agency recently began DNA testing to ensure that fish for sale are not being mislabeled. The FDA collects samples from wholesale dis- tributors, testing them before the product reaches the point-of-sale. The goal of this testing is to help guide future enforcement and education efforts and ultimately pro- tect consumers against fraud. The federal government is also doing its part to protect domestic fish stocks and promote sustainability when it comes to the U.S. domestic fishing industry. In No- vember, for example, the NOAA banned fishing for cod in most of the waters off of the Northeast coast of the United States until at least May of 2015. The move was made in response to diminishing stocks of the once populous fish. For the past two years, the NOAA has in fact placed catch limits on every species it manages, making the United States the first country in the world to do so. As the U.S. government struggles to come to grips with a problem that is, by all accounts, out of control and, for the mo- ment, unmanageable, it becomes the re- sponsibility of the retailer, the restaurateur and, ultimately, the consumer to protect against seafood fraud and reject illegally caught fish. Many of those purchasing fish are doing their best to trace the product from sea-to-plate, developing relationships with trusted fishers. Some restaurateurs and chefs at notable seafood establishments are reportedly going so far as to reject im- ported seafood altogether. According to Lowell, seafood retailers are in a unique position to serve an important role in combating the dual problems of seafood fraud and piracy. By demanding complete "bait-to-plate transparency" from wholesalers, retailers can help protect the seas at the point-of-sale. "Retailers are a key to putting some of these recommendations into action. They can ask for more docu- mentation [from the supplier] and provide consumers more information on how the fish was caught and what species it is. They can be educators," said Lowell. Lowell argues, however, that the con- sumer him or herself can also play a vital part in this struggle. "Where you buy seafood isn't going to feel like it needs to provide answers until consumers start ask- ing questions: What species is this? How was it caught? Where was it caught?" Low- ell said. "Asking questions is the number one thing. If a person can't answer it, maybe you should purchase something else from that retailer." GN The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has issued a new assessment of the chem- ical Bisphenol A (BPA), reaffirming its position that BPA is safe at current levels of exposure from food contact uses. FDA's Center for Food Safety and Applied Nu- trition released its 2014 hazard assess- ment of BPA via the agency's website following completion of a formal internal agency review of the most current re- search on BPA. According to the FDA, the 2014 re- view reconfirms that the basis for the agency's previous assessment of the safety threshold for BPA was appropri- ate. In addition, the agency concluded that due to metabolism difference, ro- dent studies should not be the basis for consideration of BPA effects in human infants. Instead, a safety assessment must rely on primate data, which sug- gest that all ages, including infants, can quickly and effectively metabolize BPA. The FDA also stated that the potential for contamination in BPA research activ- ities is much greater than previously re- alized. FDA believes this potential for contamination may explain inconsistent results seen in previous low-dose studies showing adverse effects. "The 2014 assessment of BPA by FDA is welcome news, said John M. Rost, Chair of The North American Metal Packaging Al- liance. "The comprehensive review by FDA scientists should dispel any concerns re- garding the safe use of BPA epoxy resins in canned foods. Agency researchers could not have been more clear or definitive in their conclusion that an adequate margin of safety exists for BPA." GN FDA: BPA Safe at Current Levels of Exposure from Food Contact Uses

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