Conservationist group Oceana has issued a report purportedly finding that 43 percent of salmon samples purchased from U.S. restaurants and grocery stores were mislabeled. As a follow-up to a larger study, Oceana researchers DNA tested 82 salmon samples and compared them to the names under which restaurants and grocers sold them. Of the 32 salmon samples sold as "wild salmon," the tests indicated 69 percent were farmed; "Alaskan" or "Pacific" salmon was also likely to be mislabeled, with five of the nine samples discovered to be farmed Atlantic salmon. Large grocery stores were most likely to advertise their products correctly, while restaurants mislabeled 67 percent of fish offerings. The report further notes that salmon sold out-of-season was much more likely to be mislabeled. “The federal government should provide consumers with assurances that the seafood they purchase is safe, legally caught and honestly labeled,” Beth Lowell, senior campaign director at Oceana,…
Tag Archives fish
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Office of the Under Secretary for Food Safety, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have announced a September 24, 2015, public meeting in College Park, Maryland, to discuss draft U.S. positions for consideration at the 34th Session of the Codex Committee on Fish and Fishery Products (CCFFP) slated for October 19-24 in Alesund, Norway. The CCFFP develops global standards for fresh, frozen (including quick frozen) or otherwise processed fish, crustaceans and molluscs. Agenda items at the September gathering will include draft codes of practice for processing of fish sauce and processing of fresh and quick-frozen raw scallops as well as proposed food additive provisions in standards for fish and fishery products. See Federal Register, July 30, 2015. Issue 575
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed a lower court’s ruling dismissing a challenge to California’s law criminalizing the sale or distribution of shark fin. Chinatown Neighborhood Ass’n v. Harris, No. 14-15781 (9th Cir., order entered July 27, 2015). The plaintiffs, two groups representing Asian-Americans who seek to serve shark-fin soup, a traditional Chinese dish, argued that the law violates the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and is preempted by the Magnuson-Stevens Act. The Ninth Circuit rejected the claims, finding that the lower court did not err in refusing to grant leave to the organizations so that they could fully brief the preemption issue. Further, the shark-fin ban does not violate the Commerce Clause, the court found, because the effects on interstate commerce result from regulation of in-state conduct. Additional details about the groups’ complaint appear in Issue 447 of this Update. Issue 574
The Center for Food Safety, Food & Water Watch and Friends of the Earth (FOE) have authored a May 28, 2015, letter to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), claiming that a draft risk assessment conducted by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) questions the health and welfare of AquaBounty Technologies Inc.’s genetically modified (GM) salmon. According to FOE, the “never-before-seen” environmental review concludes that AquaBounty’s GM salmon are not only “more susceptible to Aeromonas salmonicida, a type of disease-causing bacteria,” but exhibit “diminished growth rates” and “widely varied performance.” The assessment also reportedly registers “uncertainty” about the function of the gene construct, in addition to faulting the management and operation of AquaBounty facilities for allegedly failing to supply “internal compliance documentation, such as a daily check-list to ensure that all relevant mechanical barriers are in place and functioning properly.” As a result of these findings, the…
A federal court has granted summary judgment for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in a lawsuit brought by the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and Mercury Policy Project (MPP) alleging that the agency has egregiously delayed a response to the organizations’ 2011 petition urging FDA to require the labeling of mercury levels in seafood. CSPI v. FDA, No. 14-0375 (D.D.C., order entered November 21, 2014). Additional information about the complaint appears in Issue 517 of this Update. Assessing precedent, the court noted six considerations relevant in evaluating agency delay and found that three were in question here. CSPI and MPP argued that FDA’s delay was unreasonable because statutorily, the agency has six months to approve, deny or tentatively respond to citizen petitions; while FDA technically complied with this regulation, they argued, the deadline “provides a framework within which to gauge FDA’s delay in issuing a…
Food & Water Watch and the Center for Food Safety (CFS) have reported that AquaBounty Technologies has been fined $9,500 USD for violating environmental regulations in Panama and call for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which is assessing the safety of the company’s genetically engineered (GE) salmon, to terminate its review and deny AquaBounty’s pending application to sell GE fish in the United States. The Panamanian National Environmental Authority apparently ruled on October 23, 2014, that AquaBounty failed to secure the permits needed for water use and water discharge before commencing operations. The decision came in response to a complaint filed in 2013 by the environmental organization Centro de Incidencia Ambiental. CFS senior attorney George Kimbrell said, “AquaBounty has not been able to follow the law, because it lacks the capacity, sophistication, will, or all of the above. This decision is also even further proof that FDA is…
The Center for Food Safety (CFS) has issued a report challenging the proposed organic aquaculture production regulations under consideration by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Titled Like Water and Oil: Ocean-Based Fish Farming and Organic Don’t Mix, the report argues that USDA should reject proposed standards that would allegedly dilute the value of organic certification by allowing the agency’s seal to appear on fish products sourced from ocean-based farms. In addition to citing the high number of fish escapes reported in the previous two decades, CFS claims that “open-ocean fish farms can never be organic,” partly because synthetic chemicals prohibited under the Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) are ubiquitous in the marine environment. The group also alleges that open-ocean farming not only alters the natural behavior of migratory fish in violation of OFPA, but harms wild fisheries by using wild-caught fish as a feed source. “It’s mind-boggling to think that…
California Governor Jerry Brown (D) recently signed a bill (A.B. 504) extending the prohibition of spawning, incubating or cultivating of genetically engineered (GE) salmon in the Pacific Ocean to all state waters. Hatchery production and stocking of transgenic fish is also prohibited. The legislation was sponsored by Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro (D-Arcata), who asserts that the specter of “frankenfish” escaping into California waters “could destroy our native salmonid populations through interbreeding, competition for food and the introduction of parasites and disease.” The new law also restricts medical or scientific research to that performed by “accredited California academic institutions or private entities for research only and not for commercial production,” provided such activities are conducted in closed systems that reduce the “risk of escape of transgenic finfish species and any potential disease they may transmit.” See Press Release of Assemblymember Wesley Chesbro, September 29, 2014. Issue 541
In its October 2014 issue, Consumer Reports will publish an analysis of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) data that supported the agency’s recommendations for fish intake by pregnant women and children, released jointly as draft guidance with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in June 2014. The magazine compiled a list of low-mercury—including haddock, trout, catfish, and crab—and lowest-mercury fish—including shrimp, tilapia, oysters, and wild and Alaska salmon—and detailed the amounts considered safe for consumption for young children and women of childbearing age. The guide includes more conservative advice than the draft guidance from FDA and EPA, such as recommending that most women and young children avoid marlin and orange roughy in addition to the listed swordfish, shark, king mackerel, and gulf tilefish. The magazine cites Deborah Rice, co-author of the EPA document that established the current limit on methylmercury consumption as 0.1 microgram per kilogram of body weight…
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and several conservation groups have agreed to a settlement that limits pesticide use near salmon habitats in three states in a lawsuit accusing the agency of failing to assess the effects of pesticides on salmon despite a 2004 court decision ordering it to consult with National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) on the issue. Nw. Ctr. for Alts. To Pesticides v. EPA, No. 10 1919 (W.D. Wash., stipulated settlement agreement filed August 13, 2014). The settlement bans aerial spraying of five pesticides—carbaryl, chlorpyrifos, diazinon, malathion, and methomyl—within 300 feet and ground applications within 60 feet of salmon habitats in California, Oregon and Washington. The restrictions will be in place while NMFS analyzes the impact of the pesticides on salmon, and according to the settlement, EPA will then be required to enact permanent protections based on the findings. The Fourth Circuit struck down similar provisions in 2013…
