Does your Easter seafood look a bit fishy?

Many of us will be tucking into seafood this Easter, but do we trust that the fish we are eating is what it says on the package?

Globally, 55% of consumers doubt that the seafood they consume has been correctly labelled, while 67% of US seafood consumers want to know their fish can be traced back to a known and trusted source.

These are findings from a global survey conducted by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), which has turned to DNA testing to prove the veracity of its ecolabels.

The DNA results were comforting for seafood lovers, with over 99% of MSC’s ecolabelled products shown to be correctly labelled. By comparison, Oceana’s nationwide survey in 2013 found 33% of US seafood samples were mislabelled.

In 2015, the MSC commissioned the Wildlife DNA Forensics unit at Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) to conduct DNA tests on a random sample of 257 MSC ecolabelled seafood products from 16 countries. The test verifies that the species described on the packaging was the same as that in the product.

Commenting on the results, Brian Perkins, MSC regional director – Americas, said, “The MSC’s DNA results prove you can trust that seafood sold with the blue MSC ecolabel really is what the package says it is and can be traced from ocean to plate.”

All MSC-certified seafood comes from fisheries that have been independently certified to the MSC’s standard for sustainable fishing. MSC-ecolabelled fish is sold and processed by certified organisations operating in more than 38,000 sites in over 100 countries. Fishers, processors, retailers and chefs handling MSC-certified seafood must follow strict requirements to ensure that seafood is traceable and correctly labelled. The MSC Chain of Custody Standard is used by leading brands in driving awareness and consumer education on sustainable seafood.

Originally published here.