Brazil cities vow to stop buying threatened shark meat after Mongabay probe

Several government agencies in southern Brazil have said they will stop ordering angelshark meat for public meal programs, in response to a Mongabay investigation that highlighted the widespread consumption of the threatened species.

Shark meat is often served in public schools, hospitals and other institutions due to its low cost and lack of bones. The Mongabay investigation revealed that the generic class of shark included angelsharks, a group with one endangered and two critically endangered species that inhabit the coast off Brazil.

At least 52 procurements to purchase peixe anjo, a local common name for angelshark, were issued in the state of Rio Grande do Sul between 2015 and 2025. The total volume purchased is difficult to ascertain, as the investigation didn’t check procurements for every city and state in the country and not every procurement goes on to be fulfilled.

Mongabay journalists Fernanda Wenzel and Philip Jacobson reached out to several municipalities for comment and found that many authorities reacted with shock. Some said they didn’t know that the local trade name referred to some of the world’s most threatened sharks. Others pledged to end the practice.

“I was shocked by this,” Cristina Luft, the nutritionist responsible for school meals in Alto Feliz, told Mongabay. The municipality had purchased 943 kilograms (2,078 pounds) over three years, Luft said, but would not order more. “In our next round of purchasing, there definitely won’t be any peixe anjo.”

The Rio Grande do Sul state government also pledged to remove angelshark from its contracts following contact by Mongabay. “In alignment with biodiversity protection strategies, the state government will instruct all its agencies to remove the species from procurement tenders, replacing it with a non-threatened fish species,” it said in an emailed response.

The state capital, Porto Alegre, was the municipality that ordered the largest volume of angelshark meat since 2015, accounting for more than a third of total orders. But authorities there said angelshark had been removed from procurement bids in 2021. In neighboring Palmares do Sul municipality, authorities said they would no longer include angelshark in meals.

For many, the disconnect between the orders and the threatened status of the three species was tied to food labeling. Angelshark is often listed under commercial names such as cação-anjo or anjo, without any clear indication that it’s a threatened species, or even a shark. (Peixe anjo just means “angelfish” in Portuguese.)

Several officials said they believed it was a generic white fish, and noted that the same contracts often also included other commercial fish species such as tilapia and hake.

Read the full story, “Revealed: Brazilian state buys endangered angelsharks for school lunches,” by Fernanda Wenzel and Philip Jacobson here.

Banner image: Brazil’s National School Feeding Program is one of the largest in the world, and a significant consumer of shark meat. Image courtesy of Angelo Miguel/MEC.