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Food Control 19 (2008) 795799

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Analysis of fresh sh labelling in Spanish sh retail shops

Luis Asensio *, Ana Montero
Departamento de Nutricion, Bromatologa y Tecnologa de los Alimentos, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad San Pablo CEU,
28668 Boadilla del Monte, Madrid, Spain
Received 13 March 2007; received in revised form 25 July 2007; accepted 7 August 2007

Abstract
Each day more and more people are concerned about their food habits, because they can have repercussions on their health. However,
currently, labels are their main and almost unique source of information related with what they consume. Among sh and shery products, fresh sh is a favourite among Spaniards and the information which should be included on the labels is regulated by European and
Spanish labelling legislation. That information, which is demanded by consumers, is essential because of sh is a perishable food with
dierent origins. To check whether consumers are well informed products labelling in 285 traditional sh shops from food-markets and
155 sh shops from supermarkets and hypermarkets were analysed. Results showed serious labelling deciencies in the rst shops mentioned but were better in the second.
 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Consumers; Fish and shery products; Labelling legislation; Traceability

1. Introduction
Spain is a country of age marine old tradition. With an
estimated production of 1.16 million tonnes, as it can be
seen in Table 1, this country is the principal producer in
the European Union and ranks 20th in the world in overall
sh production (capture and aquaculture), with the leading
countries being China, Peru, India, Indonesia, Chile and
the United States (FAO, 2006a).
Fish consumption has increased signicantly in Spain in
recent years. According to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization, after Portugal, Spain has the largest
annual per capita sh and shery products consumption
in the European Union with 44.5 kg (FAO, 2006b); 75%
of this quantity is eaten at home, 22% in restaurants and
the rest is consumed in dierent institutions (army, hospitals, etc.) (MAPA, 2006).
Moreover, according to estimates by the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, sh and shery
products account for 14% of the average Spanish con*

Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 91 372 64 49; fax: +34 91 351 04 75.
E-mail address: lasen.fcex@ceu.es (L. Asensio).

0956-7135/$ - see front matter  2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.foodcont.2007.08.005

sumers food budget. Among sh products, fresh sh is

the most consumed and preferred by Spanish consumers
(more than 0.8 million of tonnes in the last statistical year).
Approximately, 50% of this quantity is purchased in the
traditional sh shops, 38% in supermarkets and the rest
in hypermarkets. Hake, sardine, anchovy, at sh and tuna
are the most popular sh species (MAPA, 2006).
In the trading of these products consumers need to have
sucient and reliable details about sh origin and other
essential characteristics. Thus, labels in sh retail shops,
must contain this necessary information and be located in
a visible and legible way to consumers. Non-detailed labelling may cause consumers disorientation.
In order to protect consumers rights, regulations related
to sh labelling are essential. Thus, labelling of sh and
shery products commercialised in Spain is regulated by
European and Spanish legislation labelling.
In that respect, the Council Regulation (EC) 104/2000,
of December 17th 1999, by which the common organization
of markets within the sector of sh and aquaculture products is established, grants priority to inform the consumer
on products acquired for consumption. These issues are
detailed in the Commission Regulation (EC) 2065/2001.

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L. Asensio, A. Montero / Food Control 19 (2008) 795799

Table 1
World sheries production (capture and aquaculture) in the European
Union by country (2004)
Capture (T)

Aquaculture (T)

Total (T)

Austria
Belgium
Cyprus
Czech Rep
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Netherlands
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
UK

400
26.575
1.567
4.528
1.089.986
87.906
135.879
597.018
262.103
93.220
7.242
280.229
287.084
125.391
158.140
1.134
521.636
192.109
221.429
1.603
1.022
803.336
269.922
652.405

2.267
1.200
2.425
19.384
42.252
252
12.821
243.870
57.233
97.068
12.744
58.359
117.786
545
2.697
868
78.925
35.258
6.700
1.180
1.569
363.181
5.989
207.203

2.667
27.775
3.992
23.912
1.132.238
88.158
148.700
840.888
319.336
190.288
19.986
338.588
404.870
125.936
160.837
2.002
600.561
227.367
228.129
2.783
2.591
1.166.517
275.911
859.608

Total

5.821.864

1.371.776

7.193.640

T = metric tonnes (FAO, 2006a).

As for Spanish regulations, Act 3/2001, of March 26th,

on Spanish Maritime Fishing, displays the same concern to
correctly inform consumers. Thus, in its article 78, it establishes the principles that govern labelling, presentation, and
advertising of sh and shery products. These principles
are as follows:
1. Fish products shall include or display sucient, truthful,
and ecient information about their origin and essential
characteristics, in an objective way and leaving no room
for doubt.
2. Information on the nature of the product shall be complete, and shall specify the name of the species in all
cases, without exception.
3. The information provided shall not lead to error or misinformation by means of inscriptions, signs, anagrams,
drawings, or any other form of presentation that could
lead to confusion with other products.
4. No data whatsoever shall be omitted or falsied for the
purpose of oering a false image of the product.
5. Labels shall state the quality of the product, or of any of its
main ingredients, according to specic quality standards.
By virtue of the aforementioned regulations, the Spanish
Royal Decree 121/2004 of the 23rd of January 2004, established, in accordance with the European regulation, the
basic regulation on classication and labelling of fresh,
refrigerated and chilled sh products. Considering this

Royal Decree the minimum and compulsory information

to be included on the labels in sh retail shops are:
(a) Commercial designation of the species: the Council
Regulation (EC) 104/2000 displays in the article 4,
the Member States shall draw up and publish a list
of the commercial designations accepted in their territory. So that, there is a list of commercial names for
all sh species commercialised in Spain accepted by the
Spanish Secretary General of Maritime Fishing (Resolution of 27th of February 2007 of the Spanish Secretary General of Maritime Fishing). Examples of
commercial designation of the sh species are cod, salmon, sardine or hake.
(b) The catch area: (i) for products caught at sea, the origin must be indicated by reference to one (or more, if
appropriate) of 12 catch areas based on FAO statistical classications. For example, sh caught in New
Zealand waters would need to make reference to the
Pacic Ocean; (ii) for products caught in freshwater, the origin must give a reference to the Member
State (i.e. EC Country) or third country of origin.
For example, trout caught in freshwaters of Spain or
Norway, reference would need to be made to Spain
or Norway respectively; (iii) for farmed and cultivated
products, the origin must indicate the Member State
or third country in which the product underwent nal
development. For example, if a sh started its life
farmed in France and Denmark but was nally
farmed in Iceland, the labelling is required to state
Farmed Icelandic sh. However, consistency with
separate advice on country of origin labelling would
suggest that all countries be indicated on the labelling
to give consumers accurate and meaningful information on the true place(s) of origin of the sh. So in
the above example, it is recommended that the product be labelled as Farmed Icelandic sh reared in
France and Denmark.
(c) The production method: the production method
should be given in one of the following ways: for
products caught at sea or in freshwater must be used
the terms caught or caught in freshwater; for
products of aquaculture must be used the terms
farmed or cultivated to indicate that the shery
and aquaculture products have been farmed.
(d) Fish presentation: sh can be eviscerated, with or
without head, lleted, cooked, thawed or other. This
information also must be written on the label.
These regulations imply that all sh commercialised in
Spanish sh retail shops must be labelled with the commercial designation of the species, the catch area, the production method and the presentation. This information is
demanded by consumers and it is essential because of sh
is a perishable food with dierent origins.
On the basis of this information, the aim of this work
was to analyse the fresh, refrigerated and chilled sh label-

L. Asensio, A. Montero / Food Control 19 (2008) 795799

ling in traditional sh shops from food-markets and sh

shops from supermarkets and hypermarkets. This study
was developed to verify if the minimum and compulsory
information included on sh labels (designation of the species, the catch area, the production method and the presentation) is correctly provided in the sh retail shops and,
thus, to determine if consumers are well informed about
what they purchase and consume.

797

3.1. Traditional sh shops

Among the 285 sh shops analysed, 17.2% of them
showed a complete labelling: designation of the species,
catch area, production method and presentation. The rest
did not provide all the specications: 64.6% of sh shops
only showed the designation of the species, 10.5% had
empty labels with no legal specications and 7.7% only displayed two or three legal specications (Fig. 2).

2. Materials and methods

Fish labelling in 285 traditional sh shops from foodmarkets, and 155 sh shops from supermarkets and hypermarkets (selected at random) were analysed, all shops from
Madrid town and surroundings and other closed towns
near the capital (Toledo and Guadalajara). Madrid is the
best investigation eld because in its central wholesale market (MERCAMADRID), the largest in Europe and the
second largest world wide, large volumes of sh and shery
products are sold every day.
To begin with this study, a ling card with a series of
requirements to check was designed (Fig. 1). The principal
requirements which labels should contain were: designation
of the species, catch area, production method and presentation. It was easy to verify, by visual analysis, if labels
in sh shops showed correctly these characteristics or on
the contrary, no legal specications were displayed. When
nished this procedure, obtained data were analysed looking for conclusions.
3. Results and discussion
Subsequently, results of fresh, refrigerated and chilled
sh products labelling analysis are showed.

3.2. Fish shops from supermarkets and hypermarkets

Among the 155 sh shops from supermarkets and
hypermarkets analysed, 71% of them showed all the legal
requirements, this is, they included the minimum and compulsory information. The rest of establishments studied
only showed the designation of the sh species (20.6%) or
two or three legal specications (8.4%) (Fig. 3), which represents insucient information according with labelling
legislation in use. However, in this type of sh shops no
empty labels were found.
There were neither doubts nor possible mistakes during
data collection. Fish shops analysed showed the same
labelling for all of its products, no matter if it was complete
or incomplete.
Looking at the results obtained in this market research it
can be said that sh labelling information is more complete
in super and hypermarkets than in traditional shops and, as
a rule, the smaller is the shop the more incomplete is the
information. The explanation to this could be due to the
greater information transmission along the trading circuit
in super and hypermarkets than the other stores. Furthermore, as big establishments are more controlled by the
authorities than small shops, there are fewer deciencies

YES

NO

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

_____

1. Is the information about the designation of the

species written on the label?
2. Is the information about the catch area written
on the label?
3. Is the information about the production
method written on the label?
4. Is the information about the fish presentation
written on the label?

Fig. 1. Filing card used to analyse fresh, refrigerated and chilled sh products labels.

798

L. Asensio, A. Montero / Food Control 19 (2008) 795799

FISH SHOPS
Empty label

10.5%

Only designation of
species

64.6%

Two or three
specifications

7.7%
17.2%

Complete labelling
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Number of fish shops

Fig. 2. Results obtained after the sh and shery products labelling analysis in the traditional sh shops.

SUPERMARKETS
Only designation of
species

20.6%

Two or three
specifications

8.4%

Complete labelling

71%
0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

Number of fish shops

Fig. 3. Results obtained after the sh and shery products labelling analysis in the sh shops from supermarkets and hypermarkets.

in labelling. Economic operators of the sh trading circuit

are responsible for identifying and storing the information
they control. Retailers should receive this information in
writing either on a label on the packaging or on the accompanying commercial documentation. Subsequently, this
information should be placed or written on the label in
the sh shops. If this sh trading circuit is broken, problems in labelling appear (Frederiksen & Bremmer, 2001;
Perez-Villareal, Letellier, Loreal, & Etienne, 2003).
This work is very related to the traceability concept. It can
be dened as the collection, documentation, maintenance
and application of information related to all processes in
the food supply chain in a manner that provides a guarantee
to the consumer on the origin and life history of a product
(Opara & Mazaud, 2001). Article 18 from the Regulation
(EC) 178/2002 of the European Parliament establishes the
obligation to set up, apply and keep a traceability system.
This article is applicable as of January 1st, 2005.
It makes the economic operators of the sh trading circuit responsible for identifying and storing the information
they control; specically, they shall:
Re-label sh boxes in the event of re-packing or handling of the content of the boxes in the rst point of sale
(wholesale sh market), as long as the original content is
itemized, grouped or mixed.
This re-labelling shall be carried out as established by
Regulation (EC) 2406/96 and Royal Decree 121/2004.

On the basis of this information, traceability system is

necessary to avoid an incomplete sh labelling as this market research has provided. Thus, economic operators and
retailers have to be aware of labelling sh and shery products, as well as the dierent administrations have to be
coordinated among themselves to control labelling regulations (Denton, 2003).
Each day more and more people are concerned about
their food habits, because they can have repercussions on
their health. Labels helps consumers to choose a product
according to desirable qualities, so it is, nowadays, the
most ecient and aordable way to provide information
about the product and the most inuential point in the costumers decision of purchasing and consuming (Brom,
2000).
For this reason, traceability must be an essential tool to
protect the consumers health and secure, as well as their
nancial and social interests. Thus, consumers must
demand a complete sh labelling with the designation of
the sh species, the catch area, the production method
and the sh presentation. This information is essential
because of sh is a perishable food with dierent origins.
References
Act 3/2001, of March 26th, on Spanish Maritime Fishing, establishes the
principles that govern labelling, presentation, and advertising of sh
products (BOE number 75 of the 28th of March 2001).

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