Critically Endangered Shark Meat Is Being Sold In US Stores, Often Under Misleading Labels

An investigation into shark meat being sold at grocery stores, seafood markets, and online in the US has found that a concerning amount comes from vulnerable through to critically endangered species, and is commonly presented to shoppers with ambiguous or incorrect labeling. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

Carried out as part of a seafood forensics course at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the researchers bought 30 shark products from in-person and online stores in Washington DC, North Carolina, Florida, and Georgia, and then analyzed the DNA of the samples to find out which species they belonged to.

Of the 29 shark meat samples for which the species could be identified, 31 percent were found to belo