Little seafood label fraud found in area

Some 20 million pounds of shrimp are de-shelled and devoured in South Carolina each year. Not too much of it anymore is foreign product sold as local, as far as investigators know. The Lowcountry doesn't appear to be serving up what federal agents say is a multi-million-dollar fraud.

"There are no local investigations underway," said Al Samuels, National Marine Fisheries Service special agent.

But mislabelling of shrimp and other seafood continues to be a problem for investigators, he said. He encouraged people who suspect fraud to contact the service.

That doesn't mean all the crustaceans crunched on here are homegrown. Shellfish and other seafood don't have to be labelled as imported if it is processed at all in the United States before it is sold.

"Shrimp that comes into the United States and comes with a dusting of breading doesn't have to be labelled," said John Dean, a marine science professor emeritus and a S.C. Sustainable Seafood Initiative member. "The problem we have is people assume the seafood is a local product and you can't assume that."

The U.S. Government Accountability Office just released a report characterizing mislabelling of seafood as a major economic and food safety problem, pointing to a 2007 incident in which a series of shipments of Chinese shrimp evaded a federal food safety alert and anti-dumping fines by transporting shrimp to the United States through Malaysia that tested positive for cancer-causing drugs.

The Southern Shrimp Alliance, one of a number of regional fishing organizations that have called attention to the problem of illegal imports, called the report a good first step and called for a more concerted effort among federal agencies to fight it. It's generally acknowledged there is not enough enforcement manpower to tackle the problem.

"It's not only an economic problem. It's dangerous," said John Williams, alliance director. "Yes, we think it's going on (in the Southeast)."

But in Charleston, the sustainable seafood initiative, the South Carolina Seafood Alliance, other groups and legislators have mounted a public education campaign that — along with new federal labelling requirements in supermarkets — heightened awareness. Tightened fishery regulations on offshore species that managers say are depleted have also made people more conscious of just what they eat.

More people are asking the question Dean has long asked: "Where did this come from? And you can't say the ocean." That's given retailers a competitive reason to stock and sell local products.

"I think they have been effective in using a market approach, getting customers to ask," Dean said.

Reach Bo Petersen at 843-937-5744 or bpetersen@postandcourier.com.