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Shark meat is prepared for distribution at CEAGESP in S\u00e3o Paulo, the largest food warehouse in Latin America. Image by Philip Jacobson\/Mongabay.<\/p>\nBrazil, the world\u2019s top importer of shark meat, is feeding much of it to preschoolers, hospital patients, military staff, public workers and more via government procurements, Mongabay has found.<\/p>\n
This influx of shark meat into public buildings is exposing infants and other vulnerable groups to high levels of heavy metals like mercury and arsenic, which accumulate in sharks and can harm human health.<\/p>\n
We identified 5,900 public institutions named as possible shark meat recipients in 1,012 government tenders. The species to be acquired was almost always unspecified, raising concerns that endangered sharks and rays may be entering government meal programs.<\/p>\n
This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center\u2019s Ocean Reporting Network, where Philip Jacobson was recently a fellow.<\/p>\n
Brazilian government agencies are bulk-buying shark meat and serving it in thousands of schools, hospitals, prisons and other institutions, raising serious environmental and public health concerns, a Mongabay investigation has found.<\/p>\n
Millions of children have likely been fed shark meat through Brazil\u2019s National School Feeding Program, including infants and toddlers in more than 1,000 day cares and preschools, along with inmates at 92 S\u00e3o Paulo state prisons, the 43,000-strong military police force of Rio de Janeiro state and patients at dozens of hospitals, among others, documents show.<\/p>\n
Shark meat is high in heavy metal toxins like mercury and arsenic, which pose particular risks to young children and other vulnerable populations. But because shark meat is packaged and sold in Brazil under the generic name ca\u00e7\u00e3o, rather than as tubar\u00e3o, the Portuguese word for shark, Brazilians eating it tend not to know what kind of fish it is, surveys show.<\/p>\n
Besides the risks to human health, the findings also invite questions about the extent to which government officials in charge of food and nutrition programs may be fueling the crisis engulfing the world\u2019s sharks, whose numbers are plummeting due to overfishing.<\/p>\n
With its own shark populations dwindling, Brazil now imports most of its shark meat, principally from Spain and Taiwan. Vessels harvest the fins, a luxury food, for Asian markets, while the much cheaper meat is absorbed by an assortment of countries, Brazil foremost among them.<\/p>\n
Over the past several decades, shark meat, labeled as ca\u00e7\u00e3o, has become a common sight in Brazilian grocery stores and fish markets. But the extent to which shark is being prepared for lunch and dinner in Brazilian public buildings \u2014 from food banks and fire stations to maternity wards and military bases \u2014 has not been reported until now.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou see high levels of consumption of this food, and people are consuming it without knowing it may be harmful,\u201d Solange Bergami, an educator in Duque de Caxias, a city in Rio de Janeiro\u2019s metropolitan area, told Mongabay.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s even more concerning is that this is not happening at a restaurant of your own choosing, where consumption is voluntary, but in a public space within an educational institution, which presumes the food provided is of good quality,\u201d Bergami said.<\/p>\n
Shark meat is prepared for distribution at CEAGESP in S\u00e3o Paulo, the largest food warehouse in Latin America. Image by Philip Jacobson\/Mongabay.<\/p>\n
![\"Shark](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/shark-meat-at-store.jpg\")
Shark meat on sale in Brazil is labeled as ca\u00e7\u00e3o, a generic term whose true meaning is unknown to most Brazilians, surveys show. Image by Philip Jacobson\/Mongabay.<\/p>\n
Brazilian law requires online publication of government procurement records, so we spent months combing through dozens of municipal and state transparency portals to compile a long list of shark meat tenders.<\/p>\n
The resulting data set contains 1,012 tenders totaling more than 5,400 metric tons of shark meat worth at least 112 million reais ($20 million). Issued since 2004, these tenders span 542 municipalities in 10 of Brazil\u2019s 26 states. Only tenders with winning bidders were included in our list.<\/p>\n
The 5,400 metric tons is unlikely to have been delivered in full, because agencies don\u2019t always execute announced contracts. But many more shark meat tenders likely exist, as we couldn\u2019t check every Brazilian transparency portal, and poor site functionality probably caused us to miss others. (Readers can download the tender data we compiled here<\/a>, and search our list of possible shark meat recipients using a tool at the end of this article.)<\/p>\n A separate list of federal procurements issued from 2021-24<\/a>, compiled by marine conservation NGO Sea Shepherd Brazil and shared exclusively with Mongabay, contains an additional 866 tenders totaling 231 metric tons of ca\u00e7\u00e3o worth 4.8 million reais ($862,000). These tenders name dozens of universities, military bases and hospitals, among other institutions, as shark meat recipients.<\/p>\n More than 200 Brazilian companies appear in the municipal, state and federal data as government suppliers, offering shark meat in over 70 different brands, indicating the scope of the industry in the Latin American nation of 212 million people.<\/p>\n We also interviewed dozens of government officials, scientists, industry figures and ordinary Brazilians as we sought to understand the implications of the findings.<\/p>\n \u2018We don\u2019t really know what it is\u2019<\/p>\n Shark populations in the open ocean plunged by an estimated 71% from 1970-2018, according to a 2021 study in Nature<\/a>, making them one of the world\u2019s most threatened vertebrate groups. The IUCN classifies 16 of the 31 shark and ray species inhabiting the open ocean as critically endangered or endangered.<\/p>\n Shark meat traders argue sustainability concerns are overblown because the industry now relies primarily on blue sharks (Prionace glauca), amid widespread restrictions on capturing other species deemed more vulnerable to extinction. They say blue sharks, which are more fertile than other shark species, are plentiful enough that commercial fishing should be allowed.<\/p>\n Conservationists, though, warn that even the blue shark can only withstand so much fishing pressure. They further caution that an absence of reliable data may be masking a blue shark decline. The IUCN currently lists the species globally as near threatened.<\/p>\n With a global catch value of at least $411 million a year<\/a>, blue shark fishing is largely unregulated, meaning vessels are often free to slaughter as many as they want even as they face strict catch quotas on tuna and swordfish and retention bans on some other shark species.<\/p>\n Experts who reviewed Mongabay\u2019s tender data said that because the agencies request ca\u00e7\u00e3o, it\u2019s impossible to tell if they\u2019re acquiring blue shark or a perhaps more imperiled species.<\/p>\n \u201cIf it\u2019s just \u2018ca\u00e7\u00e3o,\u2019 we don\u2019t really know what it is,\u201d Chris Mull, who is researching the global shark meat trade as part of a four-year project at Canada\u2019s Dalhousie University<\/a>, said by phone. \u201cSo, it\u2019s almost impossible to say A) whether it\u2019s legal or illegal, or B) whether it\u2019s sustainable or unsustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n DNA barcoding studies have shown that ca\u00e7\u00e3o on sale in Brazil is often threatened<\/a> species<\/a>. Mislabeling is also widespread, with one species fraudulently sold as another in not just Brazil<\/a> but also the U.S.<\/a>, the U.K.<\/a>, Australia<\/a> and elsewhere.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s say they have to make a certain quota for a procurement and they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, we\u2019re a ton short,\u2019 they could just throw in another species to make up that difference,\u201d Mull said. \u201cAnd once it\u2019s processed, it\u2019s very difficult to tell [what it is].\u201d<\/p>\n Government officials behind the single biggest procurement we found \u2014 600 metric tons of ca\u00e7\u00e3o for 2,250 schools in the southern state of Paran\u00e1 \u2014 told Mongabay they didn\u2019t know what species they\u2019d gotten.<\/p>\n \u201cOne of the difficulties in acquiring ca\u00e7\u00e3o is identifying exactly what species it is, and for this reason there were environmental questions regarding this acquisition, even during the price research phase,\u201d Angelo Marco Mortella, head of the Department of Nutrition and Food at Fundepar, Paran\u00e1\u2019s state education agency, wrote in an email. The department only served ca\u00e7\u00e3o in 2022 and switched to tilapia in 2023, he added.<\/p>\n Almost every tender in our municipal and state data asked simply for ca\u00e7\u00e3o rather than any particular species. Procurement officials displayed more interest in the cut of the meat, frequently specifying steaks, fillets or cubes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely a significant amount that\u2019s being purchased, but a complete lack of control and visibility of how much,\u201d Nathalie Gil, director of Sea Shepherd Brazil, said by phone. \u201cA group of species that they should have the responsibility to protect, they\u2019re purchasing in a way that we don\u2019t even know if they\u2019re selling and giving endangered species to kids.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd if you put in the cauldron the contamination side of it, that fact that you\u2019re giving every week a contaminated meat to children, it\u2019s super absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n We also found dozens of municipal and state purchases of peixe anjo, apparently a reference to angelshark (Squatina spp.), which is on Brazil\u2019s endangered list, meaning its capture and trade are heavily restricted if not illegal. We\u2019ll explore the implications of this finding in an article published in the coming days.<\/p>\n Pile them high and sell them cheap<\/p>\n Traditional shark meat consumption has a long history in some parts of Brazil. Shark can be used as the main ingredient in a seafood stew called moqueca, where it\u2019s simmered in a base of coconut milk, tomatoes, lime and chiles.<\/p>\n But things have changed over the past 30 years. Shark meat has grown from niche regional cuisine to mainstream seafood, a nationwide industry comprising hundreds of companies in the capture, trade, distribution and retail sectors and \u2014 our investigation shows \u2014 propped up by tens of millions of reais in taxpayer funds.<\/p>\n Before the late 1990s, Brazil imported virtually no shark meat. Its own fleet caught enough to satisfy domestic demand. Brazilian fishers would haul the sharks up on deck, cut off the fins for export to Asia and then either throw the rest of the body overboard or sell the meat locally.<\/p>\n Monica Brick Peres, aquatic biodiversity and fisheries resources manager at Brazil\u2019s environment ministry, remembers watching boats return to shore stuffed with severed shark fins as a child. They would target mainly hammerheads \u2014 now one of the most endangered sharks \u2014 because of the high quality of their fins, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cI grew up looking at this and thinking this is unreasonable,\u201d she said by phone.<\/p>\n Jettisoning the carcass after slicing off the fins, known as shark finning, enables boats to fill their limited hold space with the animal\u2019s most valuable part, increasing profits. But the practice is also seen as cruel and wasteful, while incentivizing fishers to kill more sharks than they otherwise would.<\/p>\n In 1998, Peres helped lead a successful effort to make Brazil one of the first countries to ban shark finning. Under the new rules, fishers could still trade the fins, but only if they landed the rest of the shark too. Other nations followed suit.<\/p>\n However, some researchers believe the finning bans had the unintended side effect of creating a new supply of shark meat that had to be sold somewhere. Brazil, home to tens of millions of impoverished people, was a ready draw.<\/p>\n \u201cOutside Brazil, they might have had problems selling the extra meat,\u201d Peres said. In Brazil, \u201cwe have lots of people, and most of them are poor, and shark meat is cheap. \u2026 People want to give some protein to their children.\u201d<\/p>\n An anti-hunger campaign initiated by President Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva seeded additional demand. One of the first Lula administration\u2019s major acts (he held office from 2003-11 and was reelected in 2022) was to enact a universal right to free school meals for every student in public primary school. He also promoted fish more generally as a healthy alternative to ultra-processed food. From 2003-09, Brazilian fish consumption rose by 40%<\/a>, to 9 kilograms (20 pounds) per person annually.<\/p>\n Brazil\u2019s shark meat imports mirrored these trends, creeping up from near zero in the mid-1990s to 2,500 metric tons at the turn of the century, before skyrocketing past 20,000 metric tons per year in the 2000s. Brazil\u2019s own shark catch stayed relatively constant during the same period, at around 15,000-20,000 metric tons annually.<\/p>\n Brazilians\u2019 lack of familiarity with fish in general made them less likely to turn up their noses at shark meat, which is generally seen as low-grade, according to Martin Dias, scientific director for the NGO Oceana\u2019s office in Brazil.<\/p>\n \u201cWe never had a focus on fish \u2014 our best fish are exported,\u201d Dias said by phone. \u201cBut then that cheap meat, left over in a country that doesn\u2019t have much of a culture of eating higher-quality fish, etc., that started to come in. And we began to consume it.\u201d<\/p>\n It was only a matter of time before the affordable, readily available shark protein found its way into school meals, according to Rodrigo Agostinho, the head of IBAMA, a regulatory and enforcement arm of Brazil\u2019s environment ministry.<\/p>\n \u201cAt some point, [the nutritionists] decided to recommend it to everyone,\u201d said Agostinho, who signed off on several shark meat procurements while serving as mayor of Bauru, a city in S\u00e3o Paulo state, in the mid-2010s. \u201c\u2018Look, for school meals, to avoid problems with children choking on bones, buy this type of meat.\u2019 There was a decision, and a culture was created in Brazil.\u201d<\/p>\n Bone app\u00e9tit<\/p>\n Bergami, the Duque de Caxias educator, began trying to get shark meat removed from school meals in the city around 2021, when she noticed students complaining about the taste and smell and refusing to eat it.<\/p>\n Sharks have skeletons made of cartilage, making them easier to process and prepare than bony fish. But their blood and tissues are also high in urea, which can decompose into pungent ammonia if the carcass isn\u2019t properly handled. \u201cThe meat will smell like a public restroom,\u201d Eduardo Bessa, a biology professor at the University of Bras\u00edlia, told Mongabay on campus.<\/p>\n Bergami said she believed in the feeding program\u2019s mission of instilling kids with healthy eating habits and hated to see them scraping their main courses into the trash. \u201cOur students are from less-privileged backgrounds, so they don\u2019t have this culture of eating fish, or proteins in general, like meat, chicken, beef,\u201d she said in an interview. \u201cSo, for us it\u2019s also very important that fish is on the menu.\u201d<\/p>\n It was only when she did some research that she learned ca\u00e7\u00e3o was shark \u2014 and about the health risks from metal and metalloid contaminants. Exposure to these elements can harm human health in a variety of ways, from damage to organs like the brain and kidneys to increased risk of cancer and other diseases, according to a wide body of scientific literature.<\/p>\n As president of the city\u2019s school feeding council, which monitors school meal quality and compliance, Bergami asked the municipal education department to replace ca\u00e7\u00e3o with a different fish. But she said they told her it couldn\u2019t be done.<\/p>\n \u201cThe nutritionist claimed it was the fish with the least bones,\u201d Bergami said. \u201cThere was no new bidding process and the fish \u2014 the ca\u00e7\u00e3o \u2014 kept being served.\u201d<\/p>\n Brazilian government agencies employ thousands of nutritionists who draw up the meal plans that food procurements are based on. These nutritionists often favor ca\u00e7\u00e3o because of the lack of bones, sources told Mongabay.<\/p>\n \u201cJust imagine a child in day care, or even an older child, choking on bones \u2014 it\u2019s a situation no colleague wants to go through,\u201d Jeanice de Azevedo Aguiar, an adviser to the Regional Council of Nutritionists \u2014 3rd Region (CRN-3), which oversees the S\u00e3o Paulo and Mato Grosso do Sul states, said in a video call. \u201cDepending on the severity of the choking, the child might have to be hospitalized.\u201d<\/p>\n Buyer agencies echoed that sentiment. Colegio Pedro II, a federal public school with 12,000 students, told Mongabay that it served ca\u00e7\u00e3o \u201cabove all\u201d because it has no bones. The Foundation for Childhood and Adolescence, a Rio de Janeiro state body, said it had chosen to serve ca\u00e7\u00e3o at a group home for disabled youth because the lack of bones made it \u201ceasier to chew and reduces the risk of choking, which is crucial for patients with motor and intellectual disabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Agostinho, the Bauru mayor turned IBAMA chief, said he\u2019d faced \u201cenormous resistance\u201d from government nutritionists when he\u2019d tried to question the city\u2019s procurement of not just shark but also ray meat, which was purchased several times for schools under his watch from 2013-16, documents show.<\/p>\n \u201cThe procurement processes only reach the mayor for signature once everything is already done,\u201d Agostinho told us at his office in Brasil\u00eda. \u201cYou try to say no, and the nutritionist responds, \u2018So it\u2019s the mayor who decides what I\u2019m going to serve the children?\u2019 \u2026 They would say, \u2018No, you can\u2019t put children\u2019s lives at risk.\u2019 \u2026 \u2018I\u2019m going to give children meat that doesn\u2019t have bones,\u2019 as if it\u2019s not safe otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n Price was also a factor, he said, because buying a more expensive product when a cheaper one is available could invite scrutiny from government auditors.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t you know that you\u2019re toxic<\/p>\n While bonelessness is a selling point, sharks are also high in contaminants such as mercury due to a process called bioaccumulation. That\u2019s when one animal eats other animals, which themselves have eaten other animals, and so on, with certain chemicals absorbed by all of them throughout their lifetimes accumulating in the predators at the top of the food chain.<\/p>\n The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and Brazilian health regulator ANVISA both set limits for mercury in shark meat at 1 milligram per kilogram, matching World Health Organization guidelines, above which the product can be recalled.<\/p>\n But while the FDA warns adults to eat shark meat only sparingly, and young children and pregnant and nursing mothers to avoid it entirely<\/a>, Brazil\u2019s Ministry of Health actually recommends ca\u00e7\u00e3o for toddlers and infants. The ministry\u2019s feeding guide for children under 2<\/a> highlights the lack of bones but makes no mention of contaminants.<\/p>\n Contaminant loads can vary greatly among individual sharks due to factors like species and habitat. An FDA monitoring program found<\/a> that mercury levels in 356 sharks averaged just less than 1 mg\/kg but ranged as high as 4.5 mg\/kg. Similarly, a study<\/a> of tissue samples of 27 blue sharks caught off the coast of Brazil found that 40% exceeded 1 mg\/kg.<\/p>\n Brazilian procurement rules allow agencies to request lab testing for heavy metals, but it\u2019s not required. Only a tiny handful of tenders reviewed by Mongabay explicitly called for such tests.<\/p>\n Heavy metals testing \u201cmay be done by federal or state laboratories \u2014 but routine testing is not always performed,\u201d Rachel Hauser-Davis, a British environmental researcher based at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, known as Fiocruz, a research institute affiliated with Brazil\u2019s health ministry, wrote in a message.<\/p>\n Shark traders tend to downplay contamination concerns<\/a>. Spain\u2019s Interfish, which represents shark and swordfish interests, says on its website<\/a> that \u201cthere is no risk of mercury toxicity thanks to the selenium present in these fish, a key element that neutralizes mercury, making seafood safe and healthy to consume.\u201d<\/p>\n Hauser-Davis called that claim \u201cvery irresponsible, as it leads to people believing that selenium can 100% ameliorate mercury effects.\u201d Selenium \u201cdoes have a protective effect against mercury, but this depends on HOW MUCH mercury there is in a certain foodstuff (fish, meat, etc), so the protective effect is NOT ALWAYS TRUE.\u201d<\/p>\n Mercury isn\u2019t the only contaminant found in shark meat. Arsenic was \u201cgenerally the most prevalent element detected\u201d in a number of studies on metal contamination in sharks, according to a 2024 paper Hauser-Davis co-authored<\/a>, with blue sharks among those showing high levels. Both elements, along with cadmium, another toxic heavy metal, frequently surpassed safety thresholds established by regulators, the studies found.<\/p>\n For members of the general population, any ill effects arising from exposure to these contaminants tend to appear after the better part of a lifetime, according to Patricia Charvet, biology professor and visiting researcher at the Federal University of Cear\u00e1 and regional vice-chair of the Shark Specialist Group of the IUCN Species Survival Commission.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not the kind of thing you eat once and you get sick \u2014 usually, it\u2019s cumulative,\u201d she said by phone. \u201cSo, for the generations now that are consuming a lot of shark meat, the problems are going to appear further down the line. They\u2019re going to appear when they\u2019re over 50, over 60 or more, because we tend to build contaminants in our fatty tissues.\u201d<\/p>\n For vulnerable groups such as young children, the elderly and the immunocompromised, the risks can be more immediate, Charvet said. \u201cThe situation is even more concerning if shark meat is being consumed by pregnant, nursing mothers, infants and toddlers since contaminants can lead to neurodevelopmental problems in a much shorter timeframe,\u201d she wrote in an email.<\/p>\n That hundreds of Brazilian day cares and preschools were apparently serving shark meat to the very young is \u201cscary from the point of view of potentially causing serious problems,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n A 2023 tender to feed the 43,000-strong Rio de Janeiro state military police corps for a year specified that each officer was supposed to eat 3 kg (6.6 lbs) of ca\u00e7\u00e3o per month. A 2024 tender set the amount at 2.3 kg (5 lbs) per month.<\/p>\n \u201cMother of God!\u201d Aguiar, the nutritionist council adviser, exclaimed upon hearing those figures. Charvet called the figures \u201calarming\u201d and pointed out that any government employee, military staff or prisoner who fell ill from contaminant exposure would rely on the same public health system for treatment that fed them shark in the first place. The state military police did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Brazilian university students pursuing a nutrition degree typically don\u2019t learn about toxicology, sources said.<\/p>\n Judith Gomes de Oliveira, a nutritionist who\u2019s coordinated the menu for the university restaurant at the Federal University of Ouro Preto for 30 years, didn\u2019t even know ca\u00e7\u00e3o was shark until Mongabay requested an interview, although the restaurant previously served ca\u00e7\u00e3o. \u201cMaybe if I\u2019d studied oceanography, I would have known,\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n Last year, the Duque de Caxias school feeding council under Bergami escalated its complaint to the Rio de Janeiro state nutritionists council, CRN-4. Since then, she said, the city had suggested it would stop serving shark, but when we met Bergami in April, ca\u00e7\u00e3o was still being served. This week, she told us that was still the case at nearly 200 public schools in the city.<\/p>\n The Duque de Caxias city hall told us in an email that they were conducting acceptability tests with other types of fish to replace ca\u00e7\u00e3o, but were encountering issues with bones. \u201cOur children are a priority, and we strive to provide a healthy, varied diet,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n Tatiane Amorim Mello de Matos, a mother with three children in Duque de Caxias public schools who represents parents on the city\u2019s school feeding council, said she believed the officials serving her kids shark were probably unaware of the health and environmental issues.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we don\u2019t have the knowledge, that\u2019s one thing,\u201d Matos said in an interview. \u201cBut from the moment we do, and they still don\u2019t do anything, that\u2019s when we know how to hold them accountable and in what way, because they won\u2019t be able to claim ignorance anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen someone says, \u2018Oh, I didn\u2019t know,\u2019 I\u2019ll be the first to say, \u2018No, but I do.\u2019 I know that ca\u00e7\u00e3o meat is shark meat, and as a mother, I don\u2019t want that served in my child\u2019s school.\u201d<\/p>\n Culture at a crossroads<\/p>\n In a few scattered instances, civil society pushback has resulted in policy change. Most prominently, the city of S\u00e3o Paulo canceled a 650-metric-ton shark meat tender for school meals in 2021 after conservationists objected and one of Brazil\u2019s biggest TV news channels covered the story<\/a>.<\/p>\n That same year, Santos, also in S\u00e3o Paulo state, became Brazil\u2019s first municipality to ban shark meat from school meals, citing environmental and health concerns<\/a>. And Paran\u00e1 state mandated<\/a> that any ca\u00e7\u00e3o product carry the species name after a survey of shoppers there showed that most who had eaten it didn\u2019t know it was shark<\/a>.<\/p>\n Those cases aside, shark meat procurements remain widespread. Some 290 tenders in our municipal and state data were issued between 2022 and the present.<\/p>\n In the four biggest cities in the southeastern state of Esp\u00edrito Santo, for example \u2014 Vit\u00f3ria, Vila Velha, Serra and Cariacica \u2014 we found 20 tenders seeking a combined total of 463 metric tons of ca\u00e7\u00e3o issued since 2022. In Salvador, a major northeastern city, we found three tenders requesting 132 tons since 2021. Mongabay identified a number of open tenders for 2025 ca\u00e7\u00e3o supply contracts.<\/p>\n Sea Shepherd Brazil is calling for a ban<\/a> on all institutional purchases of shark meat. The group supports a bill authored by Nilto Tatto, leader of the environmental caucus in Brazil\u2019s lower house of Congress, that would prohibit shark meat procurements by federal institutions, now making its way through the committee process<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the meantime, Sea Shepherd is working to increase consumer awareness. Its \u201cCa\u00e7\u00e3o \u00e9 Tubar\u00e3o\u201d campaign<\/a> seeks to spread the word that Brazilians\u2019 favorite cheap fish is actually shark. It came as a surprise to several sources Mongabay consulted for this story.<\/p>\n \u201cI bought, cooked, and ate ca\u00e7\u00e3o my whole life without having any idea it was shark meat,\u201d Laura Oliveira, an early childhood educator who grew up in S\u00e3o Paulo, told Mongabay. \u201cIt\u2019s not something that people are made aware of.\u201d<\/p>\n Vitor Hugo do Amaral Ferreira, director of Brazil\u2019s Consumer Protection and Defense Department, also didn\u2019t know ca\u00e7\u00e3o was shark until we contacted him. \u201cI\u2019m not going to say there\u2019s consumer fraud going on here, but there\u2019s information that\u2019s not clear, not precise and not explicit,\u201d he said at his office in Bras\u00edlia. \u201c[Consumers] must at least have the knowledge so they can make an informed choice, what this ca\u00e7\u00e3o is, right?\u201d<\/p>\n Brazil\u2019s Federal Council of Nutritionists, a federal agency, acknowledged that the term ca\u00e7\u00e3o can be misleading, writing in an email that its use \u201ccan mask the commercialization of endangered or unsustainably caught species.\u201d It therefore emphasizes \u201cthe importance of accurate labeling: Identifying the species with its scientific and popular name.\u201d <\/p>\n Mull, the Dalhousie University researcher, said the procurement data disclosed in this article could bolster efforts to enhance traceability in shark supply chains. Companies identified as leading suppliers, he said, would be logical focal points for enforcing rules set by CITES, the global convention on trade in endangered species, which restricts trade of more than 100 shark species.<\/p>\n \u201cThose might be companies for [the authorities] to check out, like using DNA barcoding technology or something to try and identify what the species composition is coming in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Ayrton Assump\u00e7\u00e3o Troina, founder of A3T Group, an import-export firm based in Santa Catarina state, said he welcomed regulation but argued the shark meat trade must be allowed to persist due to its economic importance.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are many people involved, many people working, many taxes generated,\u201d he said by phone. \u201cIt cannot be treated as a marginal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n Agostinho, the mayor turned IBAMA chief, said he would support a moratorium on ca\u00e7\u00e3o procurements until shark populations showed signs of recovery. Either way, he said, the federal government must issue a coherent policy on shark meat, before it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to change this culture,\u201d he said. \u201cNot because shark or ray meat should never be consumed, but because their stocks are critically low.\u201d<\/p>\n Jacobson reported from S\u00e3o Paulo, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande Do Sul; Mendes reported from Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais and Brasil\u00eda.<\/p>\n Dataset notes<\/p>\n The data was compiled in various stages from summer 2024 to early 2025. We used scraper bots to compile data from the state transparency portals of S\u00e3o Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Paran\u00e1 and Minas Gerais, in order to identify shark meat procurements by the governments of those states. All other portals were searched manually.<\/p>\n In choosing which portals to search, we generally focused on the biggest cities and states, but for some obvious candidates we couldn\u2019t figure out how to use the portal, like for example the city of S\u00e3o Paulo\u2019s portal, so we skipped those. We also used Google to find shark meat tenders, and if we identified a municipality with a shark meat tender via a Google search, we often searched that municipality\u2019s portal, even if it was a small municipality.<\/p>\n Some tenders we found had an item requesting \u201cshark meat OR tilapia,\u201d \u201cshark meat OR hake,\u201d etc; for example, around 20 hospitals in Minas Gerais under FHEMIG, the state\u2019s hospital agency, were like this. These tenders were omitted from our final list.<\/p>\n Philip Jacobson is a senior editor at Mongabay, based in Thailand. Find him on Bluesky<\/a> and LinkedIn<\/a>. <\/p>\n Karla Mendes is a feature reporter for Mongabay, based in Brazil. Find her on \ud835\udd4f<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, LinkedIn<\/a>, Threads<\/a> and Bluesky<\/a>, and her other Mongabay stories here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kuang Keng Kuek Ser is the Pulitzer Center\u2019s data editor, based in Malaysia. Find him on Bluesky<\/a> and LinkedIn<\/a>. <\/p>\n Citations:<\/p>\n Pacoureau, N., Rigby, C. L., Kyne, P. M., Sherley, R. B., Winker, H., Carlson, J. K., \u2026 Dulvy, N. K. (2021). Half a century of global decline in oceanic sharks and rays. Nature, 589(7843), 567-571. doi:10.1038\/s41586-020-03173-9<\/a><\/p>\n De Carvalho, G. G., Degaspari, I. A., Branco, V., Can\u00e1rio, J., De Amorim, A. F., Kennedy, V. H., & Ferreira, J. R. (2014). Assessment of total and organic mercury levels in blue sharks (Prionace glauca) from the south and southeastern Brazilian coast. Biological Trace Element Research, 159(1-3), 128-134. doi:10.1007\/s12011-014-9995-6<\/a><\/p>\n Alvarenga, M., Sol\u00e9-Cava, A. M., & Henning, F. (2021). What\u2019s in a name? Phylogenetic species identification reveals extensive trade of endangered guitarfishes and sharks. Biological Conservation, 257, 109119. doi:10.1016\/j.biocon.2021.109119<\/a><\/p>\n Bernardo, C., Corr\u00eaa de Lima Adachi, A. M., Paes da Cruz, V., Foresti, F., Loose, R. H., & Bornatowski, H. (2020). The label \u201cCacao\u201d is a shark or a ray and can be a threatened species! Elasmobranch trade in southern Brazil unveiled by DNA barcoding. Marine Policy, 116, 103920. doi:10.1016\/j.marpol.2020.103920<\/a><\/p>\n Eppley, M. G., & Coote, T. (2025). DNA barcoding reveals mislabeling of endangered sharks sold as swordfish in New England fish markets. Conservation Genetics, 26(2), 381-390. doi:10.1007\/s10592-025-01675-5<\/a><\/p>\n Maciel, E. D., Savay-da-Silva, L. K., Vasconcelos, J. S., Galv\u00e3o, J. A., Sonati, J. G., Silva, D. D., & Oetterer, M. (2013). Application of exploratory factor analysis to assess fish consumption in a university community. Food Science and Technology, 33(1), 99-106. doi:10.1590\/s0101-20612013005000016<\/a><\/p>\n Hauser-Davis, R. A., Wosnick, N., Chaves, A. P., Giareta, E. P., Leite, R. D., & Torres-Florez, J. P. (2024). The global issue of metal contamination in sharks, rays and skates and associated human health risks. Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety, 288, 117358. doi:10.1016\/j.ecoenv.2024.117358<\/a><\/p>\n Bornatowski, H., Braga, R. R., Kalinowski, C., & Vitule, J. R. (2015). \u201cBuying a pig in a poke\u201d: The problem of elasmobranch meat consumption in southern Brazil. Ethnobiology Letters, 6(1), 196-202. doi:10.14237\/ebl.6.1.2015.451<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/tubarao-azul_Prionace-glauca_banco-de-imagens_2025.jpg\")
The blue shark is one of the widest ranging sharks in the world, and the most commonly traded in commercial markets. Image by Prochym \/ Adobe Stock.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DSC03937.jpg\")
Workers at the CEAGESP food warehouse in S\u00e3o Paulo sort shark meat for distribution. Image by Philip Jacobson\/Mongabay.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/PXL_20240322_161012370-1.jpg\")
A brochure from a fish market in Santos, a city in S\u00e3o Paulo state, displays a recipe for moqueca, bottom left, that calls for ca\u00e7\u00e3o. Image by Philip Jacobson\/Mongabay.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/shark-fished-greenpeace.jpg\")
Shark fins tied to their carcass are seen on board the Harvest 907, a Taiwanese longliner, in the mid-Atlantic Ocean in 2021. Image \u00a9 Tommy Trenchard \/ Greenpeace.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/frozen-shark-meat-groceries-1200x800.jpg\")
Dozens of frozen shark steaks are seen marked down to nearly half the price of tilapia at a Carrefour supermarket in S\u00e3o Paulo during the Holy Week leading up to Easter. Image by Philip Jacobson\/Mongabay.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Brazil-shark-meat-imports-and-production.jpg\")
Brazil\u2019s shark meat imports surged during the 2000s and have remained high ever since. Image via Marine Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/shark-meat-at-school.jpg\")
Every other Monday is ca\u00e7\u00e3o day at a school in Duque de Caxias, where some are pushing the city to remove shark meat from school meals. Images courtesy of Solange Bergami.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/20191101im02christianpankofieldschoolcopyright.gif\")
This illustration shows how mercury (represented as black dots) can build up in the tissues of predators like sharks that occupy higher positions in the food chain. This contamination can lead to effects on the health of these animals \u2014 and on humans who consume them. Image \u00a9 Christian Pankow | Field School.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/mark-erdmann-250607-022331_DSC00677.jpg\")
A silvertip shark (Carcharhinus albimarginatus) in Mexico. Image courtesy of Mark Erdmann<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Judith-Gomes.jpg\")
Judith Gomes de Oliveira coordinates a university restaurant in Minas Gerais state that previously served ca\u00e7\u00e3o. Image by Karla Mendes\/Mongabay.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Tatiane_Amorim.jpg\")
Tatiane Amorim Mello de Matos poses for a portrait on a rooftop in Duque de Caxias, where her three children attend public school. Image by Karla Mendes\/Mongabay.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Compra-de-cacao-para-merenda-escolar-em-SP-provoca-polemica-por-riscos-a-saude_12.gif\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/DSCF7220.jpg\")
Frozen shark carcasses are transferred from a Taiwanese longliner to a Panama-flagged collecting vessel in the Atlantic Ocean in 2019. Image \u00a9 Tommy Trenchard \/ Greenpeace.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/53712587684_c772f255de_k-1200x800.jpg\")
A school of hammerhead sharks. Image by yawning hunter via Flickr<\/a> (CC BY 2.0<\/a>).<\/p>\n