SEAFOOD MISLABELLING RIFE IN SOUTH KOREA

Seafood mislabelling rife in South Korea. Following reports of mislabelled seafood in South Korean markets, Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) conducted the first comprehensive DNA test to determine the size of the problem – and found that one out of three seafood samples tested were wrongly labelled.

Genetic sampling by EJF revealed that 34.8% of seafood tested by EJF was falsely labelled, undermining people’s ability to pick their catch in South Korea.

An EJF statement said: “Worse, consumers are unwittingly eating vulnerable species such as finless porpoise. Over the course of 2018, EJF campaigners and volunteers collected 318 samples of 12 species – from fish markets, supermarkets, restaurants and online.

“The results were indisputably sinister: products described as Japanese eel, common octopus, and mottled skate were all identified as over 50% mislabelled, with ‘fleshy prawn’ at an astounding 100%. Tellingly, mislabelling almost always occurs in one direction – with cheaper seafood disguised as more expensive kinds.

“In a marketplace in which labelling is doubtful, the products of illegal fishing can easily slip through the net, jeopardising the sustainability of fish stocks and the protection of endangered species.”

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