A snapshot survey carried out by the UK Food Standards Agency has found that consumers are being sold farmed sea bass, sea bream and salmon as ‘wild’ fish.
The first part of the survey looked at whether consumers buying fish at retail are being provided with information on whether the fish was caught or farmed – and their geographical origin – as required by fish labelling rules.
The survey found that 15% of retailers provided consumers with no, or incorrect, information about the fish or its origin. Smaller businesses, such as fishmongers, scored least well in this area.
In the second part of the survey, samples of fish described as ‘wild fish’ were purchased to investigate the extent to which they actually were wild.
Wild fish samples were purchased from supermarkets, fishmongers, fish auctions, and specialist food shops, and analysis was carried out using the extracted oil from samples of sea bass, sea bream and salmon. The results were then compared to the results in a database of authentic wild and farmed fish.
According to the samples gathered for the Agency survey, about one in 10 fish sold as ‘wild sea bass’ and ‘wild sea bream’, and one in seven fish described as ‘wild salmon’, were actually farmed fish.
Dr Mark Woolfe, Head of the Agency’s Food Authenticity Branch, said: “Although this survey only gives us a snapshot of the market at the time the samples were taken, it does show areas where retailers can tighten up their procedures so that people both know and get what they are paying for.
“The method used in this survey is just one of the novel food authenticity methods that the Agency is developing and we hope that the survey and availability of the method will deter any future fish food fraud.”
Supermarkets selling farmed fish as wild include:
• Asda, Gloucester – sea bass
• Sainsbury’s, Stroud – wild Alaskan salmon fillets
• Harrods, London – salmon
Supermarkets selling fish with incorrect or partially correct labelling include: Aldi, Tesco, Marks & Spencer and Morrisons.
