Fish

Is That Fish the Fish You Think It Is? Investigation Finds Widespread Mislabeling at the Seafood Counter

The New York Attorney General is out with a new investigation that found more than a quarter of fish bought in New York supermarkets is labeled as a different kind of fish. It's a trend that could indicate negligent marketing or even fraud.

December 18, 2018 | Source: ABC News | by Stephanie Ebbs

The New York Attorney General is out with a new investigation that found more than a quarter of fish bought in New York supermarkets is labeled as a different kind of fish. It’s a trend that could indicate negligent marketing or even fraud.

Investigators from the attorney general’s office tested 29 different supermarket brands from 155 different stores over the last year. They found 26.92 percent of the samples were mislabeled. For example, farm-raised salmon that was being sold as “wild caught.” The DNA of fish purchased by investigators was tested by the Ocean Genome Legacy Center at Northeastern University and compared to the label.

The report found that consumers could be paying more for mislabeled types of fish or could be buying a product that is less sustainable than they think. The report also found that for some types of fish — lemon sole, red snapper and grouper — shoppers were more likely to get a different kind of fish than what they thought they were buying.