**GAO-09-258**                      Published: Feb 19, 2009. Publicly Released: Mar 20, 2009.                  

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## Highlights

In 2007, Americans consumed almost 5 billion pounds of seafood. Most seafood buyers, at many levels--importers, distributors, supermarkets, restaurants, and individual consumers--assume that the seafood they buy is what the seller claims it is. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes seafood products are mislabeled for financial gain--an activity called seafood fraud. Three federal agencies play key roles in detecting and preventing seafood fraud: the Department of Homeland Security's Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the Department of Commerce's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), and the Department of Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration (FDA). GAO was asked to determine (1) the actions key federal agencies take to help detect and prevent seafood fraud and (2) the extent to which these key federal agencies collaborate with each other to help detect and prevent seafood fraud. GAO reviewed data and documents from each agency on actions to detect and prevent seafood fraud, and interviewed agency officials and other key stakeholders.

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## Topics

Agriculture and Food

Consumer protectionDocumentationFederal agenciesFederal regulationsFee-for-service plansFishesFood inspectionFood safetyFraudImport regulationImportingInspectionInteragency relationsInternal controlsLabeling lawProduct evaluationProduct safetyPublic healthReporting requirementsRequirements definitionRisk assessmentRisk managementSafetyShellfishSpeciesStandards