LONDON — Order fish and chips in Britain and you would normally expect to find a fillet of battered cod or haddock lying atop the thick-cut fries.
It would certainly be a surprise to find endangered shark on the menu.
But a study by the University of Exeter in southwest England has shone a light on the labeling of a species of shark — called a spiny dogfish or spurdog — as rock salmon, rock or huss for use in the traditional dish.
Because consumers in Britain would traditionally have balked at eating shark, terms like rock salmon have been used to make the fish sound more palatable. Few would know that ordering rock salmon, which can refer to several species of small shark, could mean they were eating an endangered species.
The researchers analyzed the DNA of more than 100 samples from takeout restaurants, fishmongers and a wholesaler, mainly in the south of England.
Although the spiny dogfish is classed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, selling it for food in Britain is not necessarily illegal. The European Union in 2011 banned commercial targeting of the shark in the North Atlantic, but the species is still picked up unintentionally as bycatch.
The study published on Thursday called for a change in labeling rules to show more clearly what kind of fish was being used.
“It’s almost impossible for consumers to know what they are buying,” said Catherine Hobbs, the study’s lead author. “People might think they’re getting a sustainably sourced product when they’re actually buying a threatened species.”
The paper found that imprecise terms not only blurred the lines between species but also made allergens, mercury levels and conservation status hard to identify.
And consumers were not the only ones confused. The study told of one wholesaler who had fins of scalloped hammerhead, a shark that is only permitted to be imported under strict conditions. The wholesaler “had no idea what species the fin belonged to,” said Andrew Griffiths, a co-author of the research.
According to Seafish, a body that represents the seafood industry, fish and chips remains a popular dish in Britain and independent takeouts have increased the number of meals served by 20 percent from 2009 to 2018. The favorite species for frying are cod and haddock, mostly from Norway, a spokeswoman for Seafish said in an email.
Andy Gray, trade marketing manager at Seafish, said, “The greatest threat to spurdog populations worldwide is overfishing, and although this species is abundant in certain areas, it is also one of the more vulnerable shark species to overexploitation.”
Problems with poorly labeled food have led some retailers to introduce detailed lists of ingredients on labels.
The British sandwich chain Pret A Manger said last year that it would be adding information about allergens in its food after the death of a girl who ate a sandwich containing sesame seeds, an ingredient she was allergic to.
Source : Nytimes
