Date of Award

Spring 6-8-2024

Document Type

Honors Project

University Scholars Director

Dr. Joshua Tom

First Advisor/Committee Member

Dr. Tracie Delgado

Second Advisor/Committee Member

Dr. Ryan Ferrer

Keywords

salmon mislabeling, substitution, DNA barcoding, Salish Sea, Seattle

Abstract

Salmon has been a cultural icon in Seattle, Washington for many generations because it has and continues to sustain the people who reside on this land. Seafood fraud, in which a seafood’s genetic identity does not match its vendor-claimed identity, is not a new phenomenon, and many studies have been conducted internationally to explore the extent of this issue. With human and environmental health concerns on the line, a salmon fraud (mislabeling) study must be conducted in a state where immensely high salmon sales and serious recreational efforts occur to assess Seattle’s marketplace honesty. By genetically barcoding the highly conserved Cytochrome C Oxidase (COI) mitochondrial gene of 119 salmon samples collected from the 7 congressional districts of Seattle, this study identifies a 17.6% overall salmon mislabeling rate in sushi restaurants and grocery stores. Sushi restaurants substituted wild Pacific salmon for another type of salmon significantly more than grocery stores. The type of mislabeling that tended to occur in grocery stores highlights that perhaps this mislabeling issue could be bringing to light a more systemic substitution problem that occurs higher up on the fish supply chain.

Comments

A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Bachelor of Arts degree in Honors Liberal Arts Seattle Pacific University 2024

Copyright Status

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Additional Rights Information

Copyright held by author.

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