FDA drafts guidance on voluntary "U.S.-Caught" and "U.S. Farm-Raised" seafood labels

The Food and Drug Administration is taking public comment through Dec. 28 on draft guidance listing seafood labels, such as "U.S.-Caught" and "U.S. Farm-Raised," that the agency would consider truthful and not misleading.

The FDA says the voluntary label is meant to help consumers in the U.S. and around the world pick out seafood caught and harvested by American fishermen. It's part of the administration's America First Seafood Strategy, which promised a U.S.-Caught label, Alaska News reported Oct. 31.

Under the draft, "U.S.-Caught" would apply to qualifying wild-caught seafood, and "U.S. Farm-Raised" to seafood raised at aquaculture facilities in the United States. Alaska processors, exporters and direct marketers could choose to use the wording. No one would be required to.

The draft doesn't address state or local origin labels, such as one naming Alaska. Separate federal country-of-origin rules already require covered fish and shellfish to carry origin information and say whether they're wild or farm-raised. The FDA says its guidance is non-binding, and sellers can label another way if they follow existing law.

The FDA expects about half of the roughly 2,300 U.S. seafood manufacturers, packers and distributors, or about 1,150 companies, to add or remove a U.S.-origin statement. Assuming about an hour per label, it estimates a one-time industry cost of about $7.7 million, according to the Federal Register notice.

Comments can be filed online or by mail. The FDA says it will consider them before it starts work on final guidance.