February 13, 2026 — A Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) report estimates that up to 20 percent of seafood may be subject to fraud, but other studies estimate that number could be as high as 30 percent.
The report, “Food fraud in the fisheries and aquaculture sector,” surmises that one-fifth of the global fisheries and aquaculture sector is subject to some type of fraud – far higher than the levels of fraud believed to take place in other food categories.