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.
Recommended Citation
Garcia, Jewel L. and Garcia, Jewel L., "Salmon mislabeling rates uncovered in restaurants and grocery stores in Seattle" (2024). Honors Projects. 229.
https://digitalcommons.spu.edu/honorsprojects/229
Copyright Status
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Additional Rights Information
Copyright held by author.
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Comments
A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the Bachelor of Arts degree in Honors Liberal Arts Seattle Pacific University 2024