U.S. labelling laws require that only species of the family Ictaluridae can be marketed as catfish. The lower production price of Pangasiidae, combined with changes in regulations over time, have resulted in high potential for species substitution and country of origin mislabelling among catfish products. The objective of this study was to conduct a market survey of catfish products sold at the U.S. retail level to examine species mislabelling and compliance with Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) regulations. A total of 80 catfish samples were collected from restaurants, grocery stores and fish markets in Orange County, CA. DNA was extracted from each sample and tested with a real-time PCR Kit for Ictaluridae spp. Samples that tested negative for Ictaluridae were tested with real-time PCR Kit for Pangasiidae spp. DNA barcoding was used as a final test in cases where species could not be identified with either of the real-time PCR assays. Overall, 7 of the 80 (9%) catfish products were found to be substituted with Pangasiidae species, these were attributed to 5 of the 40 restaurant samples and 2 of the 32 grocery store samples. In addition, 59% of grocery store samples were not compliant with COOL regulations. 

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