Import Alert 16-04

"Misbranded Seafood"

Occasionally, shipments of various species of fish, or other seafood, are offered for entry under the name of a fictitious, incorrect, or substituted species. Orange roughy, red snapper, and king crabmeat are examples of products for which another species has been substituted.

The guidance section provides an alphabetical listing of seafood names associated with previous entries. The list includes both the correct market and appropriate scientific name, as well as the fictitious or substituted name. The Red List identifies firms that have been documented to misdeclare seafood products.

Fictitious names: Detain as misbranded any seafood labeled with a fictitious name. (Example: Salmon Trout).

Incorrect common or usual name: Detain as misbranded any seafood labeled with a name which is inappropriate for the species identified on the label. (Example: Red Snapper associated with species from other than Lutianus campechanus).

Species Substitution: If species substitution is suspected, a physical sample must be collected. Contact the Division of Field Science for sampling and servicing laboratory information.

Districts should sample entries of seafood labeled as a species not common to the geographic region or exporting country. Refer to this section for guidance on the region or country from which specific species are normally available or to the Red List for firms that have been known to misidentify their products.

If a suspected fictitious name or species substitution is encountered that is not covered by this alert, refer to the Regulatory Fish Encyclopedia (RFE) and the Guidance for Industry: "The Seafood List -FDA's Guide to Acceptable Market Name for Seafood Sold in Interstate Commerce" at the following internet address: http://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/Product-SpecificInformation/Seafood/RegulatoryFishEncyclopediaRFE/default.htm.


MARKET NAME ...... SCIENTIFIC NAME or FICTITIOUS NAME ...... SOURCE OF PRODUCT (COUNTRY or GEOGRAPHIC REGION)

Abalone ............................. Haliotis spp. ................................... Pacific, North and Central America (not South America)

Abalone-like ........................ Concholepas concholepus ............................ South America Pacific shellfish

Argentine Roughy .................... Fictitious

Baby Abalone ........................ (see IA #16-34)

Basa, Basa .......................... Pangasius bocourti ........................................ Vietnam

Bocourti ............................ Pangasius bocourti ........................................ Vietnam

Giant pangasius ..................... Pangasius sanitwongsei .................................... Vietnam

Cape capensis ....................... Merluccius capensis ........................................ South Africa

Capelin ............................. Mallotus villosus ............................... Arctic & Sub-Arctic of Atlantic & Pacific

Catfish ............................. Ictaluridae Species (See Import Alert 16-128)

Caviar .............................. Sturgeon egg

Centolla ............................ Lithodes antarcticus ..................................... South Pacific

Cherry Snapper ...................... Fictitious

Chilean Seabass ..................... Dissotichus eleginoides ............................. Sub-Antarctic Islands to Chile and Argentina

Golden Snapper ...................... Lutjanus inermis.......................................... Southeast Asia

Greenland, Greenland turbot ......... (see allowable use of the term Halibut under 21 CFR 102.57)

King Crab ........................... (see 21 CFR 102.50) North Pacific only

Limpet .............................. Fissurella spp. ............................................ Atlantic & Pacific

Mackerel Pike ....................... Fictitious

Nile Perch/Lake Victoria Perch ...... Lates Niloticus ....................................... Africa

Orange Roughy ....................... Hoplostethus atlanticus ...................................... New Zealand, Australia

Oreo Dory ........................... Pseudocyttus spp. or Allocyttus spp. ............................................ New Zealand

Red Snapper ......................... Lutjanus campechanus ............................. U.S. Carribean, & South America to Brazil

Salmon Trout ........................ Fictitious

Scampi .............................. Fictitious

Scrod ............................... Fictitious

Shortbarbel pangasius ............... Pangasius micronemus ...................................... Vietnam


Spot pangasius ...................... Pangasius larnaudi ........................................ Vietnam

St. Peter's Fish .................... Fictitious

Swai, Sutchi, or Tara ............... Pangasius hypophthalmus ................................... Vietnam

Vietnamese catfish .................. Fictitious (See Import Alert 16-128)

White roughy or ruffy ............... Fictitious

White Fish .......................... Fictitious

White fish .......................... Coregonus Clupeaformis or Coregonus Pidschian, or Prosopium Cylindraceum ..................................North Atlantic

Zander .............................. Stizostedion lucioperca ................................... Continental Europe to Western Siberia; British Isles, North Dakota

For questions or issues concerning science, science policy, sample collection, analysis, preparation, or analytical methodology, contact the Division of Field Science at (301) 796-6600.

All requests for removal from detention without physical examination should be address to DIOP 301-796-0356.

Seafood

"The article is subject to refusal of admission pursuant to section 801(a)(3) in that it appears to be misbranded because is not the common or usual name of the fish [Misbranding, Section 403(b)]."

OASIS charge code - WRONG IDEN