Client:
Fish Tales: a Dutch seafood brand on a mission to ensure fish for future generations.
Brief:
Fish Tales asked us to investigate what information Dutch and Belgian consumers actually receive on canned seafood packaging.
EU law requires fresh and frozen fish that is whole or filleted to provide consumers with three basic piece of information: 1) Species; 2) Catch area; 3) Fishing method. The same rules do not apply to canned seafood, so our goal was to establish, exactly how big the transparency gap is.
Our approach:
We designed and carried out a representative shelf audit of the canned seafood category across the Netherlands and Belgium in August 2026. We assessed 202 products from 34 brands, sold in six supermarkets per country: from budget retailers to eco-focused chains, covering budget, mid-range, and premium brands alike. Fish Tales’ own products were included and assessed against the exact same criteria as every competitor.
For each product, we recorded whether the scientific species name, the catch area and the fishing method were stated clearly, in the local language, and in a way an average consumer could actually understand — not just technically present somewhere on the packaging. Products were then classified as sufficiently transparent, partially transparent, or not transparent.
Interesting finding: three products sold under a sardine label were found, based on the Latin species named on the packaging, to actually contain herring!
Our contribution to Fish Tales:
Our research gave Fish Tales an evidence-based, category-wide benchmark it could take straight into the regulatory debate. The headline finding: only 29% of the canned seafood products assessed provided all three pieces of information clearly, meaning 71% fell short of the transparency standard already required for fresh and frozen fish.
We also uncovered differences within the category. For example, that fishing method is the single biggest information gap: only 48% of products disclose their fishing method. Private-label products are also considerably more transparent than manufacturer brands, and that MSC-certified products are twice as likely to be sufficiently transparent as uncertified ones.
Fish Tales used these findings to publish a full report, “Time to Come Clean on What’s in the Can” which is free to access.
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Laura Emous“Future of Food Institute was a very valuable partner in this research. They were quick to respond, flexible throughout the process and really thought along with us on how to make the research as robust and relevant as possible. The result is a solid, independent study that gives us the evidence we need to push for greater transparency in the seafood industry.”
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