--- title: Seafood: 30% of U.S. Shrimp Is Misrepresented, Study Says description: A new study shows that shrimp is frequently mislabeled canonical: https://time.com/3548308/shrimp-mislabeled-food-health-oceans/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-10-30T15:26:11.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T11:07:25.623Z article:section: Health og:title: 30% of U.S. Shrimp Is Misrepresented, Study Says og:description: Labels like "wild" and "Gulf" are often inaccurate og:url: https://time.com/3548308/shrimp-mislabeled-food-health-oceans/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2592cf9411f8a574/698763678e06010910457fc2/shrimp-mislabeled.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Shrimp og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 30% of U.S. Shrimp Is Misrepresented, Study Says twitter:description: Labels like "wild" and "Gulf" are often inaccurate twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2592cf9411f8a574/698763678e06010910457fc2/shrimp-mislabeled.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 30% of U.S. Shrimp Is Misrepresented, Study Says by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 30, 2014 3:26 PM UTC  America's favorite seafood? Shrimp. It's easy to see why; shrimp are available fresh or frozen, shell-on and peeled, raw and cooked. Shrimp lend themselves to countless dishes, from curries to gumbos to kebabs to stir fries. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images) America's favorite seafood? Shrimp. It's easy to see why; shrimp are available fresh or frozen, shell-on and peeled, raw and cooked. Shrimp lend themselves to countless dishes, from curries to gumbos to kebabs to stir fries. (Bill Hogan/Chicago Tribune/MCT via Getty Images)Chicago Tribune—MCT/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 30, 2014 3:26 PM UTC Shrimp may be America’s most popular seafood, but that doesn’t mean we know much about the crustaceans on our plates. A [new study](http://oceana.org/sites/default/files/shrimp%5Ffraud%5Fbrochure%5Ffinal%5Flores.pdf) by Oceana, a marine conservation advocacy group, finds that 30% of shrimp products are misrepresented — either mislabeled as the wrong species, called or implied to be “wild” when in fact it was farmed, or mixed in a bag with various species. In one instance, the researchers found an aquarium species not meant for human consumption that was mixed in with frozen wild shrimp. Misrepresentation varied by region; in Portland, Ore., where shrimp are especially popular, only 5% were labeled in a misleading way. In New York City, of the grocery stores that were visited for the study, 67% sold shrimp that was misrepresented. The issue stems in part from a lack of general information available when purchasing these products, the researchers said. In many cases, retailers and restaurants don’t offer information about the shrimp’s species or country of origin, or whether it was farmed or caught in the world. Oceana argues that improving traceability of seafood would help decrease label fraud and enable consumers to make sustainable choices. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3548308/shrimp-mislabeled-food-health-oceans/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3548308/shrimp-mislabeled-food-health-oceans/"},"headline":"30% of U.S. Shrimp Is Misrepresented, Study Says","datePublished":"2014-10-30T15:26:11.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T11:07:25.623Z","description":"Labels like \"wild\" and \"Gulf\" are often inaccurate","url":"https://time.com/3548308/shrimp-mislabeled-food-health-oceans/","keywords":["food and drink","Diet & Nutrition","seafood"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2592cf9411f8a574/698763678e06010910457fc2/shrimp-mislabeled.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2592cf9411f8a574/698763678e06010910457fc2/shrimp-mislabeled.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Shrimp","caption":"Shrimp","creditText":"Chicago Tribune—MCT/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/food-and-drink/","name":"food and drink"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3548308/shrimp-mislabeled-food-health-oceans/","name":"30% of U.S. Shrimp Is Misrepresented, Study Says"}}]}] ```