New research shows nearly a third of seafood sold in Halifax is mislabelled

On Wednesday, Oceana Canada released the results of its multi-year study which revealed 46 percent of seafood samples tested in restaurants and grocery stores in four major Canadian cities were mislabelled

HALIFAXtoday \  Chris Halef

The results of a seafood fraud investigation shows roughly a third of the seafood sold in Halifax is mislabelled.

On Wednesday, Oceana Canada released the results of its multi-year study which revealed 46 percent of seafood samples tested in restaurants and grocery stores in four major Canadian cities were mislabelled.

The cities included Halifax at 32 percent, Montreal at 52 percent, Ottawa at 50 percent and Toronto at 50 percent.

Sayara Thurston, Seafood Fraud Campaigner, said part of the reason why seafood mislabelling is not as common in Halifax is due to where the city is located.

“The shorter the supply chain, the less opportunities there are for fraud and mislabelling,” said Thurston. “Being in a coastal fishing environment will definitely reduce the chances if people are buying fresher product that comes from the fishers themselves.”

She says seafood fraud is often economically driven, adding it’s common to find less expensive species labelled as more expensive products.

“Also, if a species is harder to find, there’s a low quota or it’s more vulnerable, then that drives mislabelling as well,” she said.

According to Thurston, there is a range of health risks associated with mislabelling.

“In our most recent study and a trend as well in other studies, we found 10 instances where products were labelled as butterfish or tuna but it was actually escolar,” she said. “It’s a species known to possibly cause some nasty digestive issues so it’s not something you want to eat without knowing it.”

More research found that Canadians overwhelmingly support seafood traceability with 87 percent concerned about purchasing mislabelled products while 86 percent are concerned about the government’s failure to address seafood mislabelling and illegal fishing in Canada.

According to the study, the mislabelling rate among retailers and grocery stores was 6.5 per cent and the rate among restaurants was 65 per cent.

Currently, Canada does not require seafood products to include information proving its origin, legality or sustainability status.