Feds must test more fish to protect public, expert says
Problem could harm the health of consumers with allergies to certain types of fish
By Larry Pynn, Vancouver SunJuly 5, 2009
The operator of the MGM Restaurant in Nanaimo pleaded guilty in 2008 to violating Food and Drugs Act after mislabeling a product.
Photograph by: Krista Charke, CNSThe Canadian Food Inspection Agency conducted only 42 tests of retail fish in B.C. over the past three years to ensure consumers are getting what they pay for – a number so small that critics say it does little to deter offenders.
“It’s low,” said Bob Hanner, a fish DNA expert in the department of integrative biology at Ontario’s University of Guelph. “Without being derisive, their program could be a lot stronger if it had a lot more sampling behind it, to validate what’s on the labels.”
He urged Ottawa to adopt a broader testing program based on DNA analysis aimed at individual retailers but also the wholesalers and distributors of seafood products.
However, CFIA regional director Susan Schenkeveld said from her Burnaby office that the 42 tests do not tell the entire story, instead representing “a drop in the bucket” of federal inspection activities.
She said federal inspectors also check for labelling, quality and advertising of fish and other food products, and monitor wholesale fish imports before they even get to the retail level.
“We feel confident we have a strong inspection program,” she said. “We can’t be everywhere, but we’re confident we see a fairly large segment of what comes in.”
Hanner’s lab teamed up with The Vancouver Sun last month to conduct DNA samples on 21 retail fish samples from Metro Vancouver. Six of the samples or more than 25 per cent were mislabelled, including less costly catfish and pollock sold as cod, bastard halibut (an Asian flounder) sold as halibut, and hake sold as crabmeat.
Ottawa analysed its 42 fish samples through electrophoresis, a process by which molecules are separated out through an electrical charge to identify fish. Four samples were found to be unsatisfactory, although one was deemed okay after being resubmitted for testing.
In one of the more serious cases, Ramperfad (Tony) Samaroo of the MGM Restaurant in Nanaimo pleaded guilty in 2008 to two violations of the Food and Drugs Act and was fined $5,000 in provincial court.
The restaurant sold kamaboko mislabelled as scallops and pork as veal. Kamaboko is a mixture of low-end pollock, wheat starch, egg white, soy and other ingredients, and is processed to resemble scallops.
Schenkeveld said her staff followed up with the retail outlets identified in The Sun’s investigation for selling mislabelled fish but refused to say what, if any, enforcement action was taken against them.
Federal inspectors have conducted 249 grocery or restaurant inspections (fish and other products) for proper labelling since April 1, 2008. They found 68.7-per-cent compliance for fixed weight, 71.6 per cent for quality (e.g., ingredients), 60.7 per cent for labelling (e.g., best- before date format), and 40.7 per cent for advertising.
Hanner argues that consumer fraud is just part of the issue and that individuals with allergies are at risk when retail outlets substitute one fish for another.
In 2007, pufferfish imported to the U.S. from China and sold as monkfish were recalled after two people in the Chicago area became ill. Pufferfish contain tetrodotoxin, which can cause death.
Consumers also want to make sure they are eating sustainably managed fish stocks, he said.
Hanner is associate director of the Canadian Barcode of Life Network, an ever-expanding DNA data base – 6,500 fish have been listed internationally so far, with at least another 24,000 still to go – that allows scientists to reliably identify a particular specimen.
He said the process of electrophoresis used by CFIA is inferior to DNA, yet the agency has shown little enthusiasm for taking advantage of the barcode data base. “It’s frustrating.”
lpynn@vancouversun.com© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
The operator of the MGM Restaurant in Nanaimo pleaded guilty in 2008 to violating Food and Drugs Act after mislabeling a product.
Photograph by: Krista Charke, CNS
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