Meta-analyses of molecular seafood studies identify the global distribution of legal and illegal trade in CITES-regulated European eels

• Published in: Current Research in Food Science
• Main Authors: Vincent Nijman, Florian Martin Stein
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2022
• Subjects: CITES; Anguillids; Fraudulent labelling; Illegal wildlife trade; DNA barcoding; Seafood sustainability; Nutrition. Foods and food supply; TX341-641; Food processing and manufacture; TP368-456; Canada; Anguilla anguilla; European eel
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crfs.2022.01.009; https://doaj.org/article/d4cf564d1486402c81c5aeb188e701cd

Authentication of seafood products by means of molecular techniques has relevance for food sustainability and security, as well as international trade regulation, linked to transparency in food manufacturing. We focus on the molecular detection of the depleted European eel Anguilla anguilla, a species for which strict international trade regulations are in place since 2010, in studies conducted outside Europe. We found thirteen studies from nine countries (Canada, China, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and USA) for which, on average, 59 ± 28% of the 330 sequenced eel samples comprised European eel. Only China, Japan, South Korea, and USA reported the import of European eel in the years prior to sampling. The authentication of eel products demonstrates a global, in part illegal, trade in European eel, covered up by incomplete or fraudulent labelling. This calls into question the compliance with existing national and international trade regulations and its implications for food safety and sustainability.