Seafood mislabeling and consumer assessment

Abstract

Fraudulent mislabeling in the seafood supply chain usually involves substitution of wild species with farmed, and misidentification of common fish as more exotic species. A survey of Spanish households found confusión in how Pangasius fillets were named, labeled and marketed. As expected, consumers paid more when the fillets were sold as flounder. The consumers’ expectation of quality, in terms of taste and other attributes, associated with flounder conflicted with what they perceived with the mislabeled Pangasius and led to dissatisfaction.