Abstract
The food safety of sushi and the health of consumers are currently of high concern for food safety agencies across the world due to the globally widespread consumption of these products. The microbiological and toxicological risks derived from the consumption of raw fish and seafood have been highlighted worldwide, while the practice of species substitution in sushi products has attracted the interest of researchers more than food safety agencies. In this study, samples of sushi were processed for species authentication using the Cytochrome Oxidase I (COI) gene as a DNA barcode. The approach of Citizen Science was used to obtain the sushi samples by involving people from eighteen different Italian cities (Northern, Central and Southern Italy). The results indicate that a considerable rate of species substitution exists with a percentage of misdescription ranging from 31.8% in Northern Italy to 40% in Central Italy. The species most affected by replacement was Thunnus thynnus followed by the flying fish roe substituted by eggs of Mallotus villosus. These results indicate that a standardization of fish market names should be realized at the international level and that the indication of the scientific names of species should be mandatory for all products of the seafood supply chain.
Highlights
Margit Cichna-Markl andIn part I of Food Business Regulation (Cap. 132X) of the Government of the HongKong Special Administrative Region, the meanings of the terms sushi and sashimi are made explicit
Sushi and sashimi are perceived by consumers as healthy foods, the biological and chemical hazards for human health, derived from the consumption of raw fish and seafood, have been highlighted worldwide, such as the risk of parasitic and/or pathogenic microorganism infection [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]; the potential risk arising from a lack of proper control of temperature of these perishable foods [8]; the risk of exposure to toxicants, such as heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other contaminants [4,7,9,10]
A total of 61 sushi samples consisting of 45 fish samples, white fish and tuna, and 16 roe samples were collected from 15 restaurants and 14 takeaways from people living in 18 Italian cities who responded to the invitation to participate in the “sushi survey”
Summary
Margit Cichna-Markl andIn part I of Food Business Regulation (Cap. 132X) of the Government of the HongKong Special Administrative Region, the meanings of the terms sushi and sashimi are made explicit. In part I of Food Business Regulation (Cap. 132X) of the Government of the Hong. The most important food safety agencies in the world, such as the European Food Safety Authority [13], the Food and Drug Administration [14], the Hong Kong Food and Environmental Hygiene Department’s and the World Health. Organization, have implemented regulations and guidelines to face all issue related to the consumption of raw fish and seafood. In this context, another important issue that
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