Even though the European labe ling regulations establish compulsory information, European c onsumers receive little information about the sea fish and seafood they eat whereby they are not able to discriminate between species . Consequently, there are i ncentives in the supply chain to cheat when premiums exist for specific species or types of fish. Fish mislabeling results in a series of varied negative consequences as, for example, losses in duties and import taxes for governments as well as economic losses for the consumers that buy an unwanted product at expensive prices.
The aim of this work is to answer the following research question: w hat is the economic impact of mislabeling in the fish and seafood industry ? For it, we have estimated the economic value of mislabeled fish consumed in different European countries. For this estimation , we have employed a framework proposed by Kroetz et al. (2018). According to them , the potential magnitude of mislabeled fish consumed in a country depends on both the mislabeling rates and the consumption of the most important commercial species i n that country . Thus:
M = R ´ C
where M is the value of mislabeled product, R is the mislabeling rate (R < 1) and C is the consumption (in €) of a specific fish species. To estimate mislabeling rates we have carried out a systematic literature review of 25 papers published between 2008 and 2023 dealing with mislabeling in the fish and seafood industry in different European countries , whereas the co nsumption of the main commercial species in each country was obtained using the database of household s’ purchases of fresh fish and seafood seafood products provided by EUMOFA. Due to information limitations, we have only been able to estimate the economic value of mislabeling of two of the main commercial species groups such as gadoids ( cod, hake, haddock and other white fish) and scombroids ( tunas, mackerel s and bonitos) in 9 European countries (see Tables 1 and 2). We can observe that Italy presents the highest mislabeling rates, whereas the lowest rates are from the Netherlands and UK. On the other hand, the largest economic value caused by mislabeling is presented in Spain due to the high fish consumption in this country of gadoids and scombroids species.
Kroetz, K., Donlan, C.J., Cole, C.E., Gephart, J.A., Lee, P. (2018). Through the Lens of Production and Trade: How Much Mislabeled Seafood Do Consumers Buy? Resources for the Future, report.
Grant PID2022-137023OB-C31 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and by ERDF A way of making Europe.