A study checked if salmon sold in Seattle was labeled correctly. They found that 18% of the salmon they tested was mislabeled, which means it wasn't the type of salmon the store or restaurant said it was.
This is a problem because:
Customers might pay more for cheaper fish: Some restaurants were selling farmed salmon but saying it was wild, which costs more.
It's hard to protect wild salmon: If stores don't label fish correctly, it's harder to track where it came from, which makes it difficult to protect wild salmon populations.
The researchers say we need to do a better job of making sure salmon is labeled correctly. This means having and enforcing laws against mislabeling and teaching people about why it's important.
The study was conducted by researchers at Seattle Pacific University who collected and analyzed salmon samples from 67 grocery stores and 52 sushi restaurants across Seattle from fall of 2022 through fall of 2023.
They found that 18 percent of all 119 fish were mislabeled. Mislabeling farmed salmon as wild occurred for 32.3 percent of the restaurant samples and none of the grocery samples. Mislabeling of one wild-caught species as another occurred for 38.7 percent of the restaurant samples and 11.1 percent of the grocery samples.
Sushi customers foot the bill
Financial analysis revealed that mislabeling at sushi restaurants was at the expense of the customer, while mislabeling at stores had no significant effect. The researchers note that it is unknown where along the supply chain mislabeling tends to occur, but that it is unlikely at the point of harvest.
"We found Seattle sushi restaurants are far more likely to give you farmed salmon in place of vendor-claimed wild salmon," said Tracie Delgado, one of the lead researchers. "Failure to properly label wild salmon is a serious problem because it prevents accurate tracking of supply chains and therefore makes it more difficult to sustain and conserve wild salmon."
Prior studies have revealed frequent mislabeling of salmon in Washington markets and restaurants. In 2013, the state made it illegal to mislabel salmon, citing negative effects for customers, fishers, distributors, vendors, and ecosystems.
The study is published in the journal PLOS One.