Fish allergy risk derived from ambiguous vernacular fish names: Forensic DNA-based detection in Greek markets

Abstract

Some fish species, like hakes, are amongst the most allergenic seafood species and represent a high proportion of food allergies, particularly in children. Seafood mislabelling or incomplete labelling may enhance inadvertent consumption of allergenic species. The problem can be accentuated in countries where vernacular names do not distinguish fish species, like in Greece, where hake, cod and other Gadoids are generically named with the same Greek word Bakaliaros. The purpose of the study was to detect and quantify allergenic fish species contained in commercial seafood labelled with generic and unspecific names. Commercial samples were obtained at random from Greek fish markets and fish species were identified based on PCR fragments of the 5S rDNA. Almost 85% of the analysed products contained highly allergenic hake or grenadier species and only 15% contained less allergenic species like cod and haddock. We conclude that commercial fish markets are potential hotspots of allergy risk, and suggest labelling containing species names and consumer education for reading labels as preventive measures.