High Schoolers Expose Widespread Seafood Mislabeling

Two New York high school students, Kate Stoeckle and Louisa Strauss, investigated seafood sold in sushi restaurants and grocery stores using DNA barcoding.
Out of 60 samples tested, 23% were mislabeled:
“Red snapper” was actually cheap Mozambique tilapia.
"Flying fish roe" turned out to be smelt.
Seven of nine red snapper samples were fakes, replaced with species ranging from cod to tilapia.
Their findings showed that 2 of 4 restaurants and 6 of 10 grocery stores sold mislabeled fish.
The students stressed that mislabeling could happen anywhere along the supply chain, and sellers’ names were withheld to avoid lawsuits.
The research highlights a broader issue: diners often pay premium prices for cheaper or entirely different fish, without knowing it.
As Kate Stoeckle put it:
“If you're paying for red snapper and you're eating tilapia, I think you have the right to know that.”

tilapia = ティアピア（日本ではほぼ流通していない）
smelt = わかさぎ
flying fish = とびうお
cod = たら