The European Commission has published the results of EU-wide control plans to assess the prevalence of fraudulent practices in the marketing of fish.
AIPCE-CEP has welcomed the results which confirm that although there are pockets of concern, there are multiple areas where things are working very well.
Andrew Kuyk, AIPCE-CEP’s sustainability WG chairman, said: “Both industry and retail sectors will embrace the results from this study as the leading responsible players strive to remove all accidental mislabeling and to create standards and monitoring processes to drive out fraudulent practices from the wider industry.”
“We are collaborating with scientists and regulators to develop improved detection methods and implementing comprehensive monitoring across our supply chains,” he added.
Industry and retailers are combining their efforts to make a hugely diverse supply base more robust and clear to consumers. This effort is showing a progress in the right direction.
Mr Kuyk continued: “We should also note that the Commission’s findings make no suggestion whatsoever of any health or safety risk for consumers from these isolated examples of poor practice. Furthermore, the study itself makes clear that non-compliance can be for many different reasons, of which deliberate fraud is only one.”
The outcome of the latest multi-species, transnational survey of fish labelling accuracy was published on 7 December. It showed and overall mislabelling rate of 4.93%, this is substantially lower than levels previously documents by the initial wave of seafood identification studies.
“But more needs to be done to ensure that the highest standards apply across the whole chain and throughout the Single Market- and processors are ready to work with their supply chain partners and relevant authorities in order to give consumers even greater reassurance,” concluded Mr Kuyk.
