China muscles in on NZ shellfish

Chinese mussel producers are trying to cash in on the reputation of New Zealand mussels by copying the boxes used by mussel exporters, and passing off their mussels as New Zealand grown.

Rebecca Clarkson, of the New Zealand Mussel Industry Council, said the industry had discussed the problem with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

New Zealand's Washington embassy had also recently contacted United States Customs about the counterfeiting of New Zealand boxes, and Ms Clarkson said this was a huge breakthrough.

The first instance of counterfeiting was discovered in 2001 when an employee of a New Zealand mussel company working in the US found Chinese mussels packaged in replicas of New Zealand exporters' boxes.

"There were some pretty amazing similarities. The boxes used New Zealand brand names, pictures of New Zealand and even stated that the country of origin was New Zealand," Ms Clarkson said.

The packaging also used the "Greenshell" name - a trademark which relates solely to endemic New Zealand greenshelled mussels.

China produces more than 50 species of mussels, including a green-shelled mussel, Perna viridis, which is similar in appearance to the New Zealand greenshell mussel, Perna canaliculus.

Ms Clarkson said Chinese mussels were more banana shaped, which made them easier to identify. However, Chinese mussel producers had started a breeding programme to make their mussels appear more like New Zealand mussels.

The mussels might look similar, but Chinese mussels had a different taste to New Zealand mussels and often shrivelled up when cooked, Ms Clarkson said.

China can legally export its mussels to the US if they are cooked, but, unlike New Zealand, they do not have a memorandum of understanding in place to present uncooked mussels to the US market.

"It means we have no guarantees that the mussels are safe to eat. One high-profile case of food poisoning from these counterfeit mussels would be devastating for the New Zealand mussel industry, even if we could prove that the mussel originated from China," Ms Clarkson said.

- NZPA