Mislabelling and high mercury content hampers the efforts of market-based seafood initiatives in Peru

Abstract

Peru is experiencing a “gastronomic boom” that is increasing the demand for seafood. We investigated two implicit assumptions of two popular sustainable seafood consumer-based initiatives: (1) seafood is labelled correctly, and (2) the recommended species are healthy for consumers. We used DNA barcoding to determine the taxonomic identity of 449 seafood samples from markets and restaurants and analysed the concentration of total mercury (THg) in a sub-sample (271 samples) of these. We found that a third of seafood is mislabelled and that over a quarter of all samples had mercury levels above the upper limit recommended by the US EPA (300 ng/g ww). Additionally, 30% of samples were threatened and protected species. Mislabelling often occurred for economic reasons and the lack of unique common names. Mislabelled samples also had significantly higher mercury concentrations than correctly labelled samples. The “best choice” species compiled from two sustainable seafood guides had less mislabelling, and when identified correctly through DNA barcoding, had on average lower mercury than the other species. Nevertheless, some high mercury species are included in these lists. Mislabelling makes the efforts of seafood campaigns less effective as does the inclusion of threatened species and species high in mercury.

Product diversification as the impact of covid 19 on seafood-based culinary businesses

“…The food products offered vary from fresh food to healthier processed foods [9]. Seafood culinary business can be sustainable by properly labeling and selecting types of marine fish that can be recommended as healthy food for consumers [10]. Product design driven by the COVID-19 pandemic conditions gave birth to new, more varied products.…”

“…A third of seafood was mislabeled and more than a quarter of the samples had mercury levels above the US EPA recommended limit (300 ng/g ww). In addition, 30% of the samples are threatened and protected species [10]. In this study, the atmosphere change variable is a variable that has no significant effect on product diversification.…”

Framing Effects on Attitudes and Intentions Toward Shark Meat Consumption in Lima, Peru

“…In Peru, shark meat is found in markets labeled interchangeably as tiburón ("shark") or tollo. Tollo is an all-encompassing term referring to some species of sharks of the families Carcharhinidae, Scyliorhinidae, Squalidae, and Triakidae (Biffi et al, 2020). A study conducted along the Peruvian coast found that 72% of people surveyed had consumed tollo, however, only 20% of those reported eating shark meat (Lopez de la .…”

DNA barcoding reveals overlooked shark and bony fish species in landing reports of small-scale fisheries from northern Peru

“…The Peruvian sea is home to at least 67 shark species (Cornejo et al 2015;Kelez et al 2020), half of which interact with Peruvian SSFs (Gonzalez-Pestana et al 2016). Currently, six Mustelus species occur in Peruvian waters: M. californicus, M.…”

“…On the other hand, the sicklefin smooth-hound M. lunulatus has never been reported to species-level in Peruvian landing records, despite being listed as a commercial species by IMARPE in the '90s decade (Elliot-Rodriguez et al 1996). Furthermore, two independent molecular studies found M. lunulatus in retail markets and supermarkets from Lima and Tumbes (Marín et al 2018;Biffi et al 2020). Mustelus species are traded in domestic markets simply as tollos (López de la Lama et al 2018).…”