COLTO thanks the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for updating their USA “Seafood List” which contains approved market names for all species of fish, to ensure both species of toothfish can legally be sold as “Chilean Seabass” in the United States.
In April 2013, the US based environmental organization Oceana published a report “Oceana Study Reveals Seafood Fraud Nationwide”. That report cited ‘widespread’ mislabeling of Chilean Seabass and implied that fraud was occurring in the USA market.
Examination of the report showed that all of the alleged toothfish fraud was actually Antarctic Toothfish which was being marketed as Chilean Seabass. Further checking revealed that the US FDA had not listed ‘Chilean Seabass’ as an approved market name for Antarctic Toothfish at the time – only Patagonian Toothfish could officially be marketed as Chilean Seabass.
This omission was surprising, as the two species are widely known as Chilean Seabass, both in the marketplace, and by many organisations. The FDA criteria for treating two fish species under a single market name include similarity in physical features, taste, texture, size and price. Antarctic and Patagonian Toothfish clearly met all of those criteria.
Following the Oceana report, the FDA reviewed and updated their Seafood List to confirm it is legal for both Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) and Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) to be known in the USA under the market name “Chilean Seabass”.
Advice of that change is on the FDA website.
COLTO also acknowledges the background work and efforts of Oceana, who drew this issue to our attention. This enabled the updates to be made by the FDA which, in turn, helps reassure customers they are purchasing legal, sustainable, toothfish in the USA marketplace.