Seafood mislabeling has been increasingly documented over the past decade, raising public concern over the authenticity, safety, and sustainability of seafood products. Tackling seafood mislabeling often poses significant challenges, since it manifests in diverse forms, including misidentifying species, misrepresenting farming versus wild sourcing, and falsifying geographical origins, etc. Economic gain or cultural preferences is often considered to be the greatest motivation for this fraudulent behavior. However, substitute products are, on average, of equal or lesser conservation concern than the expected products (i.e., product on the label) they replace, and the mislabeling of threatened fish species further exacerbates the problem. In particular, the defrauder benefits from selling inadvertently species that are often poorly managed and wild caught. Furthermore, seafood mislabeling has the potential to undermine the purchasing behavior of consumers who actively support sustainable fisheries, thus potentially jeopardizing these efforts. Ensuring seafood authenticity is crucial in preventing such practices and fostering sustainable fishing practices that safeguard marine biodiversity.
Over the years, diverse analytical techniques and pillars of quality assurance with their unique advantages have been developed to ensure seafood authenticity. Applications of several analytical techniques such as DNA-based techniques, spectrometric techniques, chromatographic techniques, lateral flow immunoassays, and techniques for elemental analysis and stable isotopes have been widely discussed. Nevertheless, continuous exploration of analysis technology rooted in seafood characteristics serves as a theoretical foundation for the entirety of the regulatory process. Given the intricate nature of seafood mislabeling issues, analytical methods require constant updating and refinement, with utmost consideration for result accuracy and timeliness. Consequently, the development of rapid analysis technologies is imperative for enhancing the current state of affairs in the realm of seafood authenticity.
To this end, it is imperative to gather all these advancements promptly and integrate them into a dedicated special topic. By disseminating these innovations to industrial risk-management systems, legislators, scholars, and other potential readership, we can enhance the progress towards developing precise and effective analytical methods that safeguard seafood quality and prevent seafood fraud.
This special topic on the rapid analytical techniques for seafood authentication calls for research and review papers in any of the following fields:
1)isothermal amplification methods leveraged for onsite seafood authentication;
2)electrochemical and optical DNA-based biosensors focused on seafood authentication;
3)Mid-infrared (MIR), near-infrared (NIR), and Raman spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques for seafood authentication;
4)other related novel analytic methods and techniques for seafood authentication.
Keywords:
Seafood mislabeling, seafood fraud, seafood authenticity, marine conservation, analytical methods
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
Seafood mislabeling has been increasingly documented over the past decade, raising public concern over the authenticity, safety, and sustainability of seafood products. Tackling seafood mislabeling often poses significant challenges, since it manifests in diverse forms, including misidentifying species, misrepresenting farming versus wild sourcing, and falsifying geographical origins, etc. Economic gain or cultural preferences is often considered to be the greatest motivation for this fraudulent behavior. However, substitute products are, on average, of equal or lesser conservation concern than the expected products (i.e., product on the label) they replace, and the mislabeling of threatened fish species further exacerbates the problem. In particular, the defrauder benefits from selling inadvertently species that are often poorly managed and wild caught. Furthermore, seafood mislabeling has the potential to undermine the purchasing behavior of consumers who actively support sustainable fisheries, thus potentially jeopardizing these efforts. Ensuring seafood authenticity is crucial in preventing such practices and fostering sustainable fishing practices that safeguard marine biodiversity.
Over the years, diverse analytical techniques and pillars of quality assurance with their unique advantages have been developed to ensure seafood authenticity. Applications of several analytical techniques such as DNA-based techniques, spectrometric techniques, chromatographic techniques, lateral flow immunoassays, and techniques for elemental analysis and stable isotopes have been widely discussed. Nevertheless, continuous exploration of analysis technology rooted in seafood characteristics serves as a theoretical foundation for the entirety of the regulatory process. Given the intricate nature of seafood mislabeling issues, analytical methods require constant updating and refinement, with utmost consideration for result accuracy and timeliness. Consequently, the development of rapid analysis technologies is imperative for enhancing the current state of affairs in the realm of seafood authenticity.
To this end, it is imperative to gather all these advancements promptly and integrate them into a dedicated special topic. By disseminating these innovations to industrial risk-management systems, legislators, scholars, and other potential readership, we can enhance the progress towards developing precise and effective analytical methods that safeguard seafood quality and prevent seafood fraud.
This special topic on the rapid analytical techniques for seafood authentication calls for research and review papers in any of the following fields:
1)isothermal amplification methods leveraged for onsite seafood authentication;
2)electrochemical and optical DNA-based biosensors focused on seafood authentication;
3)Mid-infrared (MIR), near-infrared (NIR), and Raman spectroscopy and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques for seafood authentication;
4)other related novel analytic methods and techniques for seafood authentication.
Keywords:
Seafood mislabeling, seafood fraud, seafood authenticity, marine conservation, analytical methods
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.