Perceptions of Seafood Safety

Consumer perception affects how food products are positioned in the marketplace. In addition, misperception about product safety influences how products are labeled and marketed. Regulatory compliance issues facing aquaculture producers are driven both by science‐based concerns over product safety and politics. Consumer perception of product safety often has little connection with any legitimate public health concern. This is particularly true for aquatic foods which have been politically targeted throughout the years by inaccurate assessment of product safety as part of a larger strategy to discourage purchases or to direct purchase to politically more acceptable product, for example from a “farmed” fish to a wild harvested one. Activists target the safety of foods harvested from the marine environment to promote an environmental agency, most recently mercury raising content in pelagic species such as tuna to scare women, particularly pregnant women, from consuming this otherwise healthful food. Recent scares have involved colorant and feed additives for farmed salmon, leading to mandatory retail labeling in Western US markets of “added color” for all farm raised salmonids to increase consumer concern about product safety and discourage purchases. These efforts detract from improving overall food safety, specifically risks of microbial contamination and growth.