Forensic genetic identification of sturgeon caviars traveling in world trade

Caviar is among the world’s most valuable wildlife products. Exploitation of sturgeon and paddlefish for the caviar trade has severely reduced abundance, and harvest of most species is regulated under CITES. International trade requires that importing nations verify the species source of caviars they receive; the US domestic trade has no such requirement. We report the results of forensic species identifications of US caviar imports from 1998 to 2008 and of US domestic market caviars from 1997 to 1998. Twelve species were identified overall and species origins were mislabeled three times as often among US domestic market caviars (14.7 %) as among imports (4.9 %). Industry practices associated with the re-packaging of caviars for domestic markets and re-export from intermediate countries have created opportunities for the co-mingling of legitimate caviars with those from illegal, unreported and unregulated sources.