Meta-analyses of molecular seafood studies identify the global distribution of legal and illegal trade in CITES-regulated European eels

Vincent Nijman; Florian Martin Stein

doi:10.1016/j.crfs.2022.01.009

Meta-analyses of molecular seafood studies identify the global distribution of legal and illegal trade in CITES-regulated European eels

Curr Res Food Sci. 2022 Jan 13:5:191-195. doi: 10.1016/j.crfs.2022.01.009. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Vincent Nijman^{1

2}, Florian Martin Stein^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Oxford Wildlife Trade Research Group, School of Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK.
² Centre for Functional Genomics, Department of Biological and Medical Sciences, Oxford Brookes University, Oxford OX3 0BP, UK.
³ Institut für Geoökologie, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Langer Kamp 19c, Braunschweig, DE, 38106, Germany.

Abstract

Authentication of seafood products by means of molecular techniques has relevance for food sustainability and security, as well as international trade regulation, linked to transparency in food manufacturing. We focus on the molecular detection of the depleted European eel Anguilla anguilla, a species for which strict international trade regulations are in place since 2010, in studies conducted outside Europe. We found thirteen studies from nine countries (Canada, China, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and USA) for which, on average, 59 ± 28% of the 330 sequenced eel samples comprised European eel. Only China, Japan, South Korea, and USA reported the import of European eel in the years prior to sampling. The authentication of eel products demonstrates a global, in part illegal, trade in European eel, covered up by incomplete or fraudulent labelling. This calls into question the compliance with existing national and international trade regulations and its implications for food safety and sustainability.

Keywords: Anguillids; CITES; CITES, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora; DNA barcoding; EU, European Union; Fraudulent labelling; Illegal wildlife trade; PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta Analysis; Seafood sustainability; WCO, World Customs Organization; cox1, cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 mitochondrial gene; cytb, cytochrome b gene; meta-Analysis.