Occurrence of Mislabelling in Prepared Fishery Products in Southern Italy

Fish authentication is a major concern not only for the prevention of commercial fraud, but also for the assessment of safety risks deriving from the undeclared introduction of potentially dangerous toxic or allergenic substances or environmentally damaging fish where endangered species are involved. Moreover, food authentication might affect the diet of certain groups of consumers, such as followers of religious practices. Considering the authentication of fish products is one of the key issues in food safety, quality and sustainability, the aim of this work was to investigate the prevalence of mislabelling in sole ( ), plaice ( ), Atlantic salmon ( ), and hake ( ) fillets from markets and supermarkets located in Apulia (Southern Italy) using DNA barcoding. The results of the molecular investigations reveal that 42/98 (42.8%) fillet samples were not correctly labelled. In particular, 12/27 (44.4%) fillets of sole ( ) were identified as belonging to . In addition, 13/28 (46.4%) plaice ( ) samples were identified as . All Atlantic salmon ( ) samples were correctly labelled. Post-sequencing data analysis revealed that 17/30 (56.6%) hake fillets ( ) were not correctly labelled, of which 8/30 samples identified as , 5/30 samples as and 4/30 as The study reveals a high occurrence of species mislabelling in the prepared fish fillet products, further evidence of the need for increased traceability and assessment of the authenticity of food products.