Seafood labeling segment 2 cover's FDA's current
laws, regulations and policies; and the FDA's
Seafood List.
Standardized food regulations for seafood
provide information defining a product's
identity, container fill requirements, and
sometimes the quality of the food.
The examples include naming standards and other
information for species, such as oysters, salmon,
shrimp, and tuna.
The common or usual name of a food, which may be a
coined term, shall accurately identify or
describe, in as simple and direct terms as possible,
the basic nature of the food or its characterizing
properties or ingredients.
There are specific common or usual name regulations
for Pacific whiting, bonito, king and snow
crabmeat, and Greenland turbot
Compliance Policy Guides or CPGs are guidance
documents that provide instructions to our field
staff, or policy on processing, labeling or
any other matter that concerns a product.
CPGs are decision-making tools used by field staff
to guide their next steps when taking possible
further regulatory action
The caviar CPG describes the proper labeling for
fish eggs, both sturgeon and non-sturgeon species.
The Snapper labeling CPG states that only the fish
species
marketed as "Red snapper."
Processed and or blended seafood products have a
CPG which describes their proper labeling.
Surimi is an example of a processed seafood product.
FDA's policy for common or usual names for seafood
sold in interstate commerce is found in CPG
540.750.
It
they relate to market names.
See our website for Compliance Policy Guides.
Import Alerts are product, firm or country specific
and describe known violations of FDA's laws
and regulations.
Although there are several alerts that involve
seafood, we have two alerts specifically for
seafood identity, Misbranded Seafood
Products and Misbranded Catfish.
All seafood import alerts begin with the number 16
and are found on FDA's website.
Let's move on to the Seafood List.
The Seafood List is FDA's Guide to acceptable market
names for seafood sold in interstate commerce.
It contains over 1800 vertebrate and
invertebrate species commonly sold in the U.S.
An estimated 90% of all seafood consumed in the
U.S.
is imported, and new species are being
introduced for sale on a regular basis.
The FDA reviews all requests to add new
species names to the Seafood List to help
ensure that the introduction of any new
names is not false or misleading to consumers.
FDA's Seafood List Guidance Document contains
information about the agency's policy for
determining acceptable market names.
If, after searching the seafood list, you do not
find an acceptable market name for your particular
new species, you can follow the guidance shown
here to determine
considered an acceptable market name.
The flow chart in the Seafood List Guidance
document works like a decision tree.
The principles are designed to help guide you
through the process of determining if a name is
an acceptable market name for use in interstate
commerce.
This guidance webpage also provides contact
information for submitting comments and questions to
the agency regarding acceptable seafood names.
On the left side of the webpage you'll notice a
"Resources for You" section with links to our
most recent Seafood List updates, and our seafood
economic fraud page.
For a new seafood species to be added to the list,
the species must either be currently sold in the
United States or have a strong potential for sale
in the near future.
The species must not be endangered.
And, it must not be prohibited by law from
sale in interstate commerce.
Here is the layout of the initial search page.
You'll see a brief introduction to the list,
as well as some of the items it contains.
You'll find when the list was last updated and a
link to the principles for evaluating the
appropriateness of a proposed new seafood name.
The list contains the species type, vertebrate
or invertebrate, the acceptable market name,
the common name provided by taxonomists, and the
scientific or Latin Name.
The list also contains certain symbols to alert
the reader of additional information specific to
that species.
An asterisk is placed next to an acceptable market
name if a naming regulation exists, and a
dagger is placed next to the common names that are
prohibited by law.
If there's any additional detailed information about
a species on the list the scientific name will be an
active hyperlink.
As an example, let's search for "catfish."
This shows a dagger next to a common name.
That indicates that
prohibited by law.
Now, we'll search for the name "tuna."
An asterisk next to the market name indicates that
a regulation exists for the naming of that
species.
Click on the scientific name hyperlink to obtain
additional information about any species.
Let's click on the scientific name
alalunga
The details page for each species provides the
market name, specific regulation if applicable,
the common name, and the scientific name.
If there's additional information available for
that species you'll see active hyperlinks for
items such as DNA data from testing, hazard
information, and vernacular names.
The hazard information, for instance, relates
directly to Chapter 3 of the Fish and Fishery
Products Hazards and Controls Guidance and
provides information on potential species related
hazards.
Now, a short review quiz.