Recent media headlines are making a strong case for why Canada should mandate “country of origin” (the country where the seafood was caught or farmed) on seafood labels.

Right now, the government only mandates a seafood label to include common name, and for imported products, country of processing (or “last major transformation”). The latter can be, and often is, different from country of origin. This matters to your health and it matters to our oceans. Here’s why.

Your health – According to last night’s news, superbugs are hiding among the imported shrimp available for purchase in Canadian retail stores. CBC’s Marketplace has found antibiotic-resistant bacteria on 17% of tested frozen shrimp products from major grocery stores – including eco-certified and organic products. According to Marketplace, India was the country of origin for more than half of the positive samples; Canada imports more shrimp from India than any other country.

While CFIA reportedly tests for antibiotics on imported shrimp, it doesn’t currently test for bacteria. This allows the bugs to hitch a free ride into your kitchen while you remain none the wiser. While cooking might kill most bacteria, they can be easily transferred to surfaces and other foods during preparation. The solution? Consumers could choose to avoid imported shrimp, particularly those grown in India, until such time as CFIA figures out how to keep Canadians safe. However under currently labelling regulations consumers can’t be sure of where their favourite shrimp products were actually farmed.

Our oceans – UK fish and chip shops made headlines when DNA tests suggested “UK fish and chip shops are selling endangered sharks”. Most tested fish samples turned out to be spiny dogfish, a shark species classified as Endangered in Europe. Consumers unwittingly contributing to the demise of European populations of this species would indeed be a headline worthy cause for concern. It appears, however, that the sharks were Canadian caught, hailing from non-threatened populations. In this case, the country of origin matters to whether the “fish” served along with the “chips” was sustainably sourced or not.

Similar stories are playing out in our own backyard. Canadian officials seized Critically Endangered European eel on its way into Canada, intended for sushi restaurants and other diners across the country and worth millions of dollars. The species would simply have been sold as “eel” or “unagi”¹, and consumed by Canadians without any knowledge that they were eating a highly threatened species.

In the case of the fish and chips, the researchers called on the U.K. government to introduce more accurate food labelling in restaurants, to enable people to know what species they are eating and where it comes from. Retailers in the EU already adhere to much higher labelling standards. This is exactly what SeaChoice is asking of Canada’s government – but in our case we don’t have robust labelling requirements for retailers OR restaurants. Canadians are eating in the dark.

SeaChoice is working to include mandatory country of origin labelling for seafood through the government’s Food Labelling Modernization Initiative. We are also actively encouraging retailers to voluntarily put more information on their seafood labels, to increase transparency, build consumer trust, and follow best practice. In the fall of 2018 over 3,200 Canadians agreed to #JoinTheShift, signing a letter asking their retailers to source local, traceable, properly labelled fish. The above examples show why retailers should continue to improve traceability and transparency in their supply chains, and voluntarily go above and beyond Canada’s weak policy requirements.