Deconinck, D.

Derycke, S.

Hostens, K.

Robbens, J.

Volckaert, F.

Open Marine Archive

97 
Poster presentation Competition poster 
Should we trust the names of fish sold to us? An in-depth analysis of 
adulteration throughout the Belgian fisheries industry  
Deconinck Dumas1, Volckaert Filip2, Hostens Kris1, Robbens Johan1 and Derycke Sofie1 
1  Animal Sciences Unit, Aquatic Environment and Quality, ILVO, Ankerstraat 1, 8400 Oostende, 
Belgium 
 E-mail: dumas.deconinck@ilvo.vlaanderen.be 
2  KU Leuven, Laboratorium voor Biodiversiteit en Evolutionaire Genomica (KULeuven-LBEG), 
Charles Deberiotstraat 32 bus 2439, 3000 Leuven, Belgium 
 
As the fisheries industry continues to aggrandise and consumers press to receive reliable and 
accurate product information, more rigid regulation of labelling and control mechanisms of 
food products throughout the fisheries industry are needed. The removal of certain 
deterministic traits such as fins or the head causes a major problem for accurate identification 
of species in fish products. In addition, fish in prepared meals or fish soup are impossible to 
identify using traditional methods. DNA barcoding forms a solution for these processed food 
products and has already shown to be successful at revealing adulteration of several fishes. This 
method involves amplifying and sequencing a small biomarker fragment of DNA from the 
samples and comparing the sequence to a reference database with sequences of known species. 
These databases, however, are prone to mistakes due to a lack of curators and additionally the 
species names used in this database are not always compendious. In this study, a reference 
database with COI (Cytochrome oxidase 1) and Cytb (Cytochrome b) mitochondrial genes was 
created to serve as a reliable platform for barcode sequences of European seafood species. This 
database contains voucher specimens collected across various European seas (and rivers) which 
are photographed and morphologically identified to species level by taxonomic experts. This 
ensures sequences are linked to the correct species. Thus far the database contains 81 COI 
sequences and 77 Cytb sequences from 24 fishes spanning 11 families, which are regularly 
consumed in Europe or frequently used as adulterants. Phylogenetic trees and the distribution 
of intra- and interspecific P-distances show these genes’ strengths as barcoding sequences. COI 
displays a clear barcoding gap and indicates that using a threshold of 2 to 5.2% divergence will 
give a 100% correct species identification. Cytb displays some overlap between species, but still 
indicates that a threshold of 4.5 to 4.6% divergence will give an error rate of 0,18% which is well 
within a 95% confidence interval. Most adulteration studies have focused on the end point of 
the food chain. Our approach is to assess more precisely where and how adulteration takes 
place along the whole food chain. For this, we will thoroughly map out all steps in the fish 
processing chain. Once we have a clear overview of the different steps we will sample a selected 
number of fishes at various points along the supply chain. Gadus morhua and Solea solea are 
consistently among the most preferred fishes for consumption by Belgian consumers and are 
consistently among the most landed fish. Both fishes are also expensive, making them prone to 
adulteration. In addition, there is a substantial amount of imported fish in Belgium, especially of 
round fish, which are suspects to be adulterants of cod. The application of DNA barcoding will 
unveil the prevalence of fishery product adulteration in the Belgian market and the factors 
influencing adulteration (such as times transferred, type of supplier, distance from ocean, price 
or processing type) of fish products in the Belgian market. 
  
Keywords: Seafood; Adulteration; Fraud; Authentication; Traceability; DNA barcoding; COI; Cytb; 
Reference database; Fish; Cod; Sole; Fisheries industry 
  


Should we trust the names of fish sold to us? An in-depth analysis of adulteration throughout the Belgian fisheries industry

http://www.vliz.be/imisdocs/publications/324864.pdf

Should we trust the names of fish sold to us? An in-depth analysis of adulteration throughout the Belgian fisheries industry

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