Almost half of seafood sold in Canada is mislabelled, new report finds

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Aug. 6, 2021 – When it comes to eating fish in Canada are you sure you’re getting the species you’re paying for?

“We know that all around the world that seafood mislabelling is a widespread and very common problem,” said Sayara Thurston, Seafood Fraud Campaigner with Oceana Canada.

Oceana Canada’s new report on fish fraud found that almost half of all fish sold by retailers and restaurants were mislabelled.

Oceana used DNA samples from fish in four major Canadian cities and found that 46 per cent of the time the fish Canadians think they’re buying is not the fish they’re actually getting.

The survey found that fish was mislabelled 32 per cent of the time in Halifax, 50 per cent of the time in Toronto and Ottawa, and 52 per cent of the time in Montreal.

It’s happening more often in restaurants than in retail stores and like most fraud the reason is to make more money. CTV News reports. | READ MORE