SeaChoice survey: consumer perceptions of seafood labelling and traceability

Canadians want stronger requirements and more information.

The results from a YouGov survey¹ commissioned by SeaChoice in November 2021 demonstrate that the majority of Canadians support improvement to traceability of seafood in Canada and would like to see more information about seafood products on their labels.

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Highlights:

Canadians would like to see more information about a seafood product on a label.

90% of Canadians think it is somewhat to very important that a seafood label says where the product is caught or harvested.
80% of Canadians somewhat to completely agree that having additional sustainability information on the product label would increase their confidence in buying that product.
70% of Canadians are somewhat to extremely supportive of seafood product labels that provide specific common names for species sold.

Canadians support improved traceability for seafood products sold in Canada.

91% of Canadians think it is somewhat to very important that traceability laws require companies to track information like what species it is, how it was caught or farmed and where it was caught or farmed.
86% of Canadians support improved seafood traceability for ALL products sold in Canada

Canadians want to seek out Canadian products

Of Canadians who purchase seafood, 76% would often or always seek out Canadian seafood, if they were labelled as such.

Canadians are concerned about seafood mislabelling and fraud.

70% of Canadians are somewhat to very concerned about seafood fraud and mislabelling.

SeaChoice recommends that the Canadian government establish better seafood labelling and traceability laws to help consumers make sustainable choices and support local Canadian producers. To improve labelling and traceability the Canadian government must develop and implement their mandated boat-to-plate traceability program.

You can download a PDF of the full results of the survey here .

All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1015 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 16th – 21st November 2021. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all Canadian adults (aged 18+).