The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published the results of a sampling and testing assignment conducted from 2022–2024 to determine the prevalence of fraudulent imported seafood products.

Specifically, FDA collected and tested imported frozen raw and cooked seafood products for short weighting, which is when a product is offered for sale containing less than the declared net weight on the package, and is considered economically motivated adulteration. Short weighting in frozen seafood can occur if the net weight of the frozen seafood includes unacceptable weight of the water glaze or ice.

It is common industry practice to add water glaze to frozen seafood products to help protect them from freezer burn while in extended storage. The longer the product may be frozen, the thicker the typical glaze may be. However, overstating the net weight of frozen seafood by including the weight of glazing (ice) is not permitted. Overstating the net quantity of contents (such as including the weight of ice glaze) is a type of food fraud, where consumers are cheated by providing misleading information about the value of the packaged seafood based on weight.   

The purpose of the 2022–2024 assignment was to identify imported packaged frozen seafood products that were violative for short weighting (e.g., they included the ice glaze as part of the net weight declared on the product label) and prevent any adulterated or misbranded products from being distributed in U.S. commerce. This assignment identified that 36 percent of the samples (ten out of 28) were violative for short weighting.

The agency collected and tested 28 samples of packaged frozen seafood products in retail packages to determine whether they met the net weight declared on the product label. The 28 samples (25 shrimp, two squid, and one tilapia) included both targeted samples based on complaints received by FDA and general surveillance samples.

The samples were imported from 12 unique firms in four countries. Each sample consisted of 48 units of packaged frozen seafood product from the same production lot. The retail package samples collected ranged in net weight between two and seven pounds (lbs.). FDA field personnel collected the samples of imported seafood products in import status, which refers to products collected at ports of entry or other locations where they are held prior to being released into the U.S. commerce.   

The samples were evaluated by FDA laboratories for net weight using the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC) method 963.18 “Net contents of Frozen Seafoods—Drained Weight Procedure.”  When a sample showed an average short weight of one percent or more, the sample results were referred to FDA compliance for potential regulatory actions.

Of the 28 imported samples collected and tested, the FDA found ten samples (36 percent) to be violative, with percent short weighting ranging from 2.3–9.9 percent. The violative samples were imported from five unique firms in three countries, and included eight shrimp samples and two squid samples.

When FDA found a sample to be violative, the agency took follow-up regulatory actions to prevent further distribution of adulterated or mislabeled product into U.S. commerce, as well as future shipments, until corrections were made by the firm. All ten violative samples resulted in refusal of entry for that shipment into the U.S.

Additionally, FDA placed the associated five companies and their violative products on an import alert subjecting their shipments to Detention without Physical Examination. For products subject to Detention without Physical Examination, the company may provide evidence to the FDA to overcome the appearance of a violation, such as the test results of a third-party laboratory, verifying the manufacturer did not include the glaze as part of the declared net weight on the package. If FDA concludes that there remains an appearance of a violation, FDA refuses the product.

The results of this assignment show frozen seafood products continue to be a commodity susceptible to economically motivated adulteration. The results reaffirm the need for FDA to continue to test frozen (ice glazed) fishery products for economically motivated adulteration to ensure consumers are not deceived.