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Ocean Genome Legacy Newsletter
April 2012

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In This Issue
"What was that fish I just ate?" How the FDA is cracking down on Seafood Fraud
OGL Offers DNA Barcoding Services
Coming Soon...
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Greetings!

Would you mind if your top sirloin was swapped with inexpensive chuck? Or if your favorite coffee shop substituted instant coffee for their signature fresh-roast?  You might be surprised to learn that substitutions like these happen frequently with seafood.  Read on to find out how the seafood industry is helping to put an end to mislabeling, and how OGL is aiding the effort.


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Seafood Mislabeling
fish fillets
Restaurants around Boston substituted tuna (left) with escolar (right), a less expensive fish.
Photo: Yun C. Byun, Boston Globe Staff

When you see "schrod" on the label you know you are buying the fish of the day. It could be hake, haddock, pollock, cod or whatever is currently available. This kind of substitution is honest and above board. But increasingly there are reports of more subtle, if not downright deceptive, seafood substitutions.  

 

A recent investigation, conducted by the Boston Globe, showed that up to half the fish ordered in local restaurants and supermarkets were mislabeled. The reasons vary.  Unscrupulous restauranteurs and distributors may try to improve their profit by substituting inexpensive or illegally caught fillets for more expensive and legally-captured varieties.  Or they may simply try to satisfy customers by replacing a currently unavailable fish with readily available substitutes. Still other substitutions are likely accidental.

 

In the last 30 years, frozen seafood imports have risen from 50% to 86% of U.S. consuption, creating many opportunities for both honest mistakes and fraud.  And the ramifications are not just economic.  In 2007, two customers at a Chicago restaurant were hospitalized after eating toxic puffer fish (fugu) mislabeled as monkfish.

 

In the past there has been no easy way to confirm the identity of seafood after it is processed into fillets or canned products. However, growing concern over seafood substitution has prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration  to develop a pilot program that uses DNA to identify fish. The method relies on "DNA Barcoding", which is relatively inexpensive, fast, and reliable.  By sequencing a short region of a standard DNA fragment (mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 or mt-CO1) inspectors can identify most major commercial fish species, even from frozen fillets or cans. By comparing these sequences with an FDA-approved set of DNA standard sequences, inspectors can quickly spot seafood mislabeling.
Atlantic cod DNA Barcode Sequence

DNA is made up of unique combinations of the nucleotide bases Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine. By extracting the DNA from tissue samples and sequencing it, the unique patterns are revealed.

(A)    Gadus morhua (Atlantic cod). Photo: FDA

(B)    Colorized Atlantic cod mt-CO1 sequence. Courtesy:  Encyclopedia of Life

(C)    Actual Atlantic cod mt-CO1 sequence. Courtesy: FDA

***

For more information on seafood mislabeling: 

Seafood Genetic ID at OGL
To help ensure compliance with FDA regulations on seafood labeling, OGL is now offering Seafood Genetic ID services to:
  • Seafood distributors
  • Restaurants
  • Retail and commercial fish markets
  • State and Federal regulatory agencies
  • Members of the general public
All proceeds go to support OGL's nonprofit mission of protecting and preserving marine biodiversity.  Find out more about this exciting new program!
SeafoodID
 Coming Soon...

  

Triton DNA
Students from Triton Regional High School get a hands-on lesson in DNA extraction during a recent tour of OGL.
Photo: OGL
Educating Tomorrow's Scientists

Advances in molecular biology and genomics are rapidly changing all fields of biology. This is particularly true of the more traditional disciplines, such as marine conservation, where the introduction of molecular methods is revolutionizing the way in which marine species and ecosystems are studied.  Learn how OGL is reaching out to students from high school through college and beyond to foster awareness, enthusiasm, and teach important skills to meet tomorrow's needs in marine conservation.      

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Want to help OGL document and preserve the spectacular genetic diversity of our world's oceans?  Visit  http://www.oglf.org/Support.htm

 

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Sincerely,

Dan Distel
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