PurposeThe purpose of the paper was to know and evaluate consumption, preferences and the knowledge of labelling legislation about wild and farmed seafood products.Design/methodology/approachA sample survey on Sicilian families was conducted through a direct interviews between October 2015 and October 2016 to study the attitudes of Sicilian consumers towards wild and farmed fish and seafood products. A stratified two-stage sampling design was chosen with variable probability of inclusion of the units of first stage and 1,700 subjects were interviewed.FindingsThe results obtained showed that the 69.4% of respondent ate fresh fish at least once a week and the 86% of respondents consumed aquaculture products at least once a month. Also, the 77.3% of respondents did not know the current legislation on the labelling. Multiple correspondence analysis allowed to identified three profiles of Sicilian families and binary logit model was used to examine the factors that influenced different frequency of fresh fish consumption in general and farmed seafood products in particular.Research limitations/implicationsExtending the research throughout the Italian territory would have allowed further comparisons at the national level.Practical implicationsThe research provides useful information on Sicilian consumers that could be used by policymakers and by marketing communications company.Social implicationsThis research, on a restricted group of European consumers (Sicilian), characterised by living in an island, reinforce the knowledge regarding seafood consumers.Originality/valueThis study used a probabilistic sampling design and a face-to-face questionnaire which produce results more robust in compare to surveys used more frequently such as non-probabilistic sampling design.

A risk assessment, related to the consumption of farmed sea bass, was carried out by meta-analysis, taking into account the concentration of trace metals (Cd, Pb, Hg) reported in the literature, the estimated weekly intake (EWI), the provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI), and the target hazard quotient (THQ). The concentrations of Cd, Pb, and Hg in farmed sea bass marketed in Sicily (Southern Italy) were also assessed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) to have screening data for the comparison with literature results. In any case, the results obtained by meta-analysis and by screening were lower than the pre-established legal limits for each metal. The meta-analysis results showed very low levels of Cd (0.031 μg g–1 w.w.), Pb (0.110 μg g–1 w.w.), and Hg (0.023 μg g–1 w.w.). The EWI estimation confirmed safety limits for human health (0.004, 0.015, and 0.003 μg kg–1 for Cd, Pb, and Hg, respectively). Even the THQ demonstrated that farmed sea bass represent a secure food for humans (0.0006, 0.0005, and 0.0048 for Cd, Pb, and Hg, respectively). The comparison with our screening data showed a significant difference only for the Pb levels (p < 0.05). The results obtained were compared with the same indexes relative to other food types (meat, cereals, vegetables, etc.). The EWI and THQ calculated were always lower than same indexes relative to other food types considered.