Only a cod: one-third of takeaways mislabel their fish

ONE IN FIVE FISH PRODUCTS on sale in Irish retailers nationwide are labelled incorrectly, according to a new survey by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).

Of the shops, hotels, pubs, takeaways and restaurants surveyed, takeaways showed the greatest level of mislabelling, with 32 per cent of fish products labelled as a different kind of fish than was actually contained in the product.

Overall, 73 per cent of smoked fish samples tested by the FSAI were mislabelled, and 13 per cent of unsmoked fish.

For the survey, the FSAI analysed 111 samples across eight counties in November and December 2010.