You can find shark meat in the United States in certain grocery stores, seafood markets and online — but the type of shark you’re buying might not be what you think it is, according to a new study.
In the study, published Wednesday in the Frontiers in Marine Science journal, researchers found meat from shark species at risk of extinction is commonly available in the U.S. under ambiguous or incorrect labels.
The study sampled 29 shark products: 19 filets purchased in grocery stores or markets in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia and Washington, D.C., and 10 jerky products bought online. DNA barcoding was used to determine the species of each product, which was then compared to the labels it was sold as.
“We found critically endangered sharks, including great hammerhead and scalloped hammerhead, being sold in grocery stores, seafood markets, and online. Of the 29 samples, 93% were ambiguously labeled as ‘shark,’ and one of the two products labeled at the species level was mislabeled,” Savannah J. Ryburn, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said in a news release.
Of the samples, 31% turned out to be from four endangered or critically endangered species: the great hammerhead, scalloped hammerhead, tope and shortfin mako sharks. Other samples were from another seven species, including the vulnerable spinner, lemon, common thresher and blacktip sharks, as well as the near threatened smooth-hound shark and Pacific angelshark.
These sales aren’t just putting the sharks at risk, the study’s authors said, as there could be health implications if consumers are not aware of what they are buying. For example, some of the species found, including scalloped hammerhead, great hammerhead and dusky smooth-hound sharks, are known to contain high levels of mercury and methylmercury, as well as arsenic, which can pose health risks.
“When consumers are purchasing ambiguously labeled or mislabeled shark meat, they have no way to know what species they are consuming and what the associated health risks might be,” the authors wrote.
To help fix this problem, Ryburn said U.S. sellers should be required to provide species-specific names. “And when shark meat is not a food security necessity, consumers should avoid purchasing products that lack species-level labeling or traceable sourcing,” she advised.
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