Quarter of seafood sold in Metro Vancouver is mislabelled: researchers
VANCOUVER — Catfish is passing as cod and tilapia is masquerading as snapper in Metro Vancouver, says a new study that found up to a quarter of seafood sold in the region was mislabelled.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia collected 281 samples of fish and other seafood from restaurants and grocery stores, then tested the DNA to determine the true species.
Their study, published Monday in the journal Food Control, found that 70 of the samples, or 25 per cent, had been mislabelled either accidentally or intentionally.
The results are comparable with another study done by the school almost 10 years ago, said Yaxi Hu, a PhD candidate at UBC and the latest study’s lead author.