The United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has passed the Commercial Seafood Consumer Protection Act (S. 50), which if enacted into law would help stop seafood fraud.
Oceana’s campaign director and federal policy director Beth Lowell issued this response:
“Oceana applauds the Senate committee for advancing this important piece of legislation. S.50 would be a first step to stopping seafood fraud in the United States. Seafood fraud is rampant and hurts our oceans, wallets and health.
“Americans should be able to track one of their most popular foods – seafood. Consumers have a right to know what they are eating and where, when and how it was caught.
“Seafood fraud is ripping off honest people trying to make responsible decisions. When we pay for a certain product that’s what we expect to get.
“There are simply too many federal agencies doing too little to address seafood fraud. This important act will direct federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to work more closely together, leading to better coordinated responses on seafood safety, labelling and fraud.
The Act would also increase the number of seafood testing labs, allow the US to refuse seafood imports that do not meet federal requirements and provide a system for developing a list of standardised seafood names.”
S. 50 was originally introduced by Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI) and implements several of the recommendations raised in the 2009 Government Accountability Office report entitled Seafood Fraud: FDA Program Changes and Better Collaboration among Key Federal Agencies Could Improve Detection and Prevention.
