Research by the University of Oviedo has highlighted the widespread practice of species being falsely passed off as variegated scallops in Asturias. The results, which were published in the scientific journal "Food Control", revealed that 49% of products analysed were mislabelled (73 out of the 148 samples analysed), mostly because variegated scallops were replaced with a different species - primarily queen scallops. An analysis of dishes in 20 restaurants, advertised on menus as variegated scallops, also concluded that in 100% of cases the species being served was the Pacific scallop (Argopecten purpuratus), which is native to the coasts of Peru and Chile and produced by aquaculture and then frozen.

This study is an initial assessment of the levels of fraud with these species, and based on samples from twelve supermarkets and small shops offering scallops presented as fresh, frozen and canned products, as well as in eighteen restaurants offering variegated scallops in Asturias and two restaurants in other provinces. Taxonomic and genetic identification was done on the samples obtained, using partial rRNA fragments of the mitochondrial 16S gene.

Under the rule of "one name, one fish", Spanish legislation defines the name "variegated scallop" to refer to the specific species Mimachlamys varia. Although the substitutions found may not be nutritionally significant, the financial and even health implications may be significant because of the difference in prices between the species studied and the type and origin of products used as substitutes. Food fraud can involve financial damage, violations of consumer law and, above all, negative effects on the proper management and planning of marine resource exploitation.

The leading author of this article is doctoral candidate Marina Parrondo Lombardía. The research was financed by the Asturias regional research programme for research groups (FC-GRUPIN-IDI/2018/000201). Marina Parrondo is writing her doctoral thesis on the use of genetic tools for the sustainable management of farmed marine invertebrates in Asturias. Her thesis forms part of the University of Oviedo's PhD programme in Chemical, Environmental & Bio-Food Engineering under the direction of professor Yaisel J. Borrell and Lucía García Flórez, director of Gijón's Centro de Experimentación Pesquera (Centre for Fishery Experimentation, or "CEP" by its Spanish acronym). The viva for the PhD is expected to take place during the coming academic year 2020-21.

Publication:

Parrondo, M; López, S.; Aparicio-Valencia, A.; Fueyo, A.; Quintanilla-García, P.; Arias, A. & Borrell, Y.J. (2020).  You almost never get what you pay for: widespread mislabelling of commercial variegated scallops in northern Spain. Food Control. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2020.107541