​How to fight fish fraud while industry regulations catch up

Fish fraud continues to ramp up, and regulations for the industry still lag behind other industries — Oceana reports that more than 90 percent of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported but less than 1 percent is inspected by the government specifically for fraud. In the meantime, researchers are identifying ways to ensure that a fish represented as wild-caught actually is, and that its species and source are presented accurately too. Marine ecologist John Bruno told QSR that red snapper and shrimp are among the biggest offenders when it comes to fraud (Oceana research found that red snapper is far and away the most commonly mislabeled fish) and generic white fish is also ripe for fraud because it can often pass without raising suspicions. Bruno teaches a course about seafood forensics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and leads a team that works with restaurant operators to extract DNA from fish tissue, sequence it and compare it to a database to determine if the vendor is trustworthy. The QSR report said operators who aren’t ready to fund such testing (Bruno’s team charges $20 to $30 per sample) can do well by asking suppliers for as much information about the fish’s origins as possible — suppliers of fraudulent fish often fall short in this area — and opting for suppliers that package and label their products thoroughly. Prioritizing strong relationships with local vendors helps too.