Source: French to English Tester Published on: 2026-05-20
Source: The Conversation – in French– By François Lévêque, Professor of Economics, Mines Paris – PSL
Everyone has a can of sardines in a cupboard. It’s not certain that before buying it we took the time to read and decipher what was written on it. It’s much longer than opening it. And, anyway, we know that canned sardines are good for health, very inexpensive, and quite practical. An analysis guaranteed 100% without Patrick Sébastien in it.
During your next purchase of canned sardines, still pay attention to the label. This will save you from eating sardines that were previously frozen, soaked in poor-quality oils, or sourced from irresponsible fishing.
An article to discover the sardine economy, and shop smart. As a bonus, my favorite sardine pâté recipe.
A trade dispute
The sardine is a pretty little fish: streamlined body, silvery sides, dark back, and white belly. It is easy to recognize at the fishmonger. It’s a pity, in the end, that it has lost its head and tail to be put in a can. If only the word “sardines” is written on it, it necessarily concerns aSardina Pilchardus, the common sardine caught off the Atlantic coasts and in the waters of the Mediterranean. If the fish comes from Peru, the front of the can will mention in the subtitleSardinops Sagax, the name of a cousin from the Pacific.
This differentiated labeling between our sardines and those from distant seas is the result of an economic-legal battle decided by the judges of the World Trade Organization (WTO),it has been more than twenty yearsAh; the world of before, in short: that of globalization of exchanges and the application of international law. On one hand, the European Commission which authorized the onlySardina pilchardusTo benefit from the appellation of “sardine.” On the other hand, Peru, whose fishing and canning industry was selling its canned sardines in Europe as… canned sardines.
Provided by the author
Risk of confusion
The Commission, suspected of erecting a barrier to imports under the pretext of protecting consumers from a risk of confusion, lost the case. Not entirely though, since the regulatory labeling maintains a separate status for our common sardine. However, it is not certain that this distinction has had any effect on consumers. The Latin name of the exotic sardines written in small print resembles footnotes that almost no one reads.
The European Union also requires sardine cans to bear its animal product health stamp. It is recognizable by its oval pill shape. It deserves to be patiently searched for on the sides of the can because it guarantees compliance with standards and the geographical indication of the cannery. If you don’t find it, even with a magnifying glass, it means the sardines were canned outside of European borders. Otherwise, FR indicates processing in France, ES in Spain, PT in Portugal, and HR for… Hrvatska, Croatia (maybe you knew that, I didn’t). Following these two letters is a series of numbers that serves as the license plate of each cannery. It allows tracing back the origin of the canning, a useful trace in case of a food safety issue.
A Moroccan international
Fresh sardines travel little; frozen or canned, they cross borders and then fear no distance. Morocco knows this well since it ranks far first in the world.The calculated figuresfor the year 2022 are impressive both for the catch (64% of the world’s sardine fishing) and for the export markets of frozen sardines and canned sardines (respectively 69% and 79% market shares)
To eat fresh Moroccan sardines, you will have to go to Morocco or very close by. For those sold in cans, you will find them all over Africa and also in Europe. These are the cheapest.
For frozen sardines, don’t think of Picard. They are mainly bought by distant canneries: from Brazil and South Africa, in particular. They also supply closer clients, in Turkey and Spain, for example. For European canneries historically specialized in canning fresh sardines, the supply of frozen sardines allows the factories to keep running when local catches become insufficient.
Embargo on sardines
But since the 1sttoIn February, theMorocco has suspended its exports of frozen sardines. The decline in catches in the kingdom’s “overfished” waters is the immediate cause. Rabat wants to redirect part of the exports to the domestic market in order to meet internal demand and contain the rise in sardine prices, a source of public discontent.
The decision of the Moroccan government is also explained by a deeper reason. The logic of economic and industrial development requires that emerging countries exporting natural resources gradually integrate downstream activities of semi-processing and final processing. These provide more income and jobs than simple exploitation. Morocco’s interest is to export its sardines canned rather than frozen. For the canneries very dependent on this supply, such as those in Spain,The Moroccan ban is obviously not good news.
The missing indication
For consumers, freezing goes unnoticed. No indication is provided on the box. Failing that, a low price may give a clue. The same applies if the flesh is soft and crumbly, but this texture can also result from cooking or aging. To avoid buying sardines that have been frozen, the only recourses are a red label or marketing statements such as “Prepared from fresh sardines.”
But in this latter case, the consumer may also think that this information is purely free. They do not know that it could have been otherwise, as I did before studying the matter. I was also unaware that 60% of thesardines canned in France had been previously preserved at -18 °Cbefore being cooked in canneries.
Omega-3 reserves
On the other hand, this information is not absolutely crucial. Freezing does not alter the taste or nutritional quality of canned sardines, except for a moderate loss of certain vitamins. In this regard, let’s recall the benefits of this small fish. It contains good fatty acids, the famous omega-3s that all magazines and dietetics books talk about, highly valued trace elements such as selenium, vitamins (notably B12), and plenty of proteins and minerals like calcium. The essential parts of this nutritional information appear on the can under the mandatory labeling of nutritional values.
If you are concerned about eating healthily, also read the list, which is also mandatory, of ingredients. Avoid those that mention peanut or sunflower oils,both very rich in omega-6, which disrupts the intakean omega-3 of sardines. The interest in buying them for their good fat content then becomes quite slim. Prefer virgin olive oil. Or even water. Nothing lighter than sardines said to be natural.
Responsible but not necessarily sustainable
Some cans bear the label “responsible fishing” on their face. The term covers a whole series of commitments. These concern social, quality, and transparency requirements as well as environmental requirements. For example, the cannedBreton brand Phare d’Eckmühl meets no fewer than about forty criteria.
If you buy sardines from responsible fishing, know that they have been caught near the coasts, selectively, and without damage to the seabed. It is a particular type of fishing with a special net that will surround the school of fish and lift the catch like a kind of bundle. If you play Scrabble, remember that this net is called a “bolinche,” it might come in handy.
Nothing guarantees that the fishing fish responsible belongs to a population exploited in a balanced manner. The sardine stock of the Bay of Biscay, where the purse seiners operate, has been assessed as overfished since 2019. To eat sustainable fishing fish, one must trust the label “Sustainable Fishing,” a certification awarded by a non-profit international organization, theMarine Stewardship Council (MSC).
Increasingly thin
The Brittany Bolincheurs Association benefited from this certification for a time. It was suspended when the sardine fishing effort in the gulf was deemed too high in view of the resource’s development. However, the loss of the label did not result in anyharmful effects for the fishermen and the processing plants concerned, except for export. Unlike in Anglo-Saxon countries, most consumers in France do not recognize the MSC logo, while informed consumers do not give it much credibility. The MSC certification is indeed the subject ofvigorous criticismA: conflict of interest, tolerance of questionable fishing techniques, certifications granted to disputed stocks, etc.
Unlike other marine species, theThe sardine is not threatened with extinction, but it is getting thinner. The fat content measured by preservers has decreased by 40% in fifteen years, representing a decline in nutritional quality. Over the same period, the average individual weight of sardines has been halved. Smaller sardines need to be more numerous to fill the can, which requiresmore preparation and canning working time, and thus increases its cost and, ultimately, the price.
What is this evolution mainly due to? Small quiz:
A) To overfishing that would capture increasingly younger individuals,
B) To the increase in natural predators of sardines such as gannets or hakes,
C) To climate change.
Correct answer: C
Less oxygen
Yes, once again,global warmingrecalls to us. As the sea temperature rises, it offers less dissolved oxygen, which leads to higher energy needs, favoring small fish. But above all, the heat also causes a decrease in the size of planktonic organisms that sardines feed on. This decrease implies more sustained and longer swimming by sardines to feed, thus once again a greater energy expenditure, leading to slower growth. This link between the size of sardines and the size of their food has even beenexperimentally proven in pools by researchers from Ifremer.
More modestly, we sought to establish the link between the information indicated on the cans and the economic, health, and environmental aspects of sardine fishing and preservation. This long and tedious analysis deserves to end with a note of childish humor.
As announced in the introduction, my favorite recipe is that of sardine pâté. It follows that of Pierre Desproges: “Crush two cans of sardines (after removing the cans and the central bones) with 150 g of salted beurre vendéen(the sardines are accustomed).” The comedian adds ketchup, tarragon, chives, chili, fennel, and a teaspoon of pastis.
For my part, I also add a few drops of garum, this kind of nuoc mam made mainly from salted and fermented sardines, the existence of which many, like me, discovered by readingAstérix in Lusitania. This was long before knowing how to preserve sardines in tin cans.
François Lévêque does not work for, advise, hold shares in, or receive funds from any organization that could benefit from this article, and has declared no other affiliation than his research institution.
–ref. Everything (or almost) that hides in a sardine can –https://theconversation.com/everything-or-almost-what-is-hidden-in-a-can-of-sardines-282651