State Senate bill targets seafood fraud

A state senate bill seeks to curb the ecological and health hazards of mislabeled seafood.

State Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) last week introduced Senate Bill 1138, which would make it illegal to knowingly sell mislabeled seafood.

Padilla’s bill requires that any label of fresh, frozen, or processed fish or shellfish offered for sale must clearly identify the species by its common name.

It follows a seafood fraud investigation by the conservation group Oceana, the bill’s sponsor.

Between 2010 and 2012 the organization collected more than 1,200 seafood samples from grocery stores, restaurants, and sushi venues across 21 states to determine if they were honestly labeled.

DNA testing found that a third of the samples analyzed nationwide were mislabeled, and more than half of seafood tested in Southern California was incorrectly labeled.

“For example, DNA samples of seafood purchased in LA and Orange Counties found that some consumers ordered red snapper, sockeye salmon, or halibut but were actually served farmed tilapia, pollock, farmed salmon, or flounder- receiving less desirable products while paying higher market prices,” according to an article on Oceana’s website.

Mislabeling can lead to overfishing of depleted fisheries such as rockfish, which is sometimes substituted for red snapper.

And it can threaten public health by exposing consumers to varieties of fish that are high in mercury or are known to cause allergies or gastrointestinal distress. That risk is particularly high for pregnant women and young children.

The bill, which unanimously passed the Senate Health Committee, will go next to the Senate Appropriations Committee.