Sardines.World Sardines.World "Sardine" is a marketing word as much as a biological one. In the EU only Sardina pilchardus may be sold unqualified as a sardine — but elsewhere the tin might hold a sprat, a herring, or a warm-water sardinella. Here's what's really in each, and which brands use it.
The Atlantic herring is a large clupeid of the North Atlantic that sometimes appears in products loosely labelled 'sardines', but it is not a true sardine under EU rules.
The Bali sardinella is a genuine sardine of the family Clupeidae and a mainstay of the Philippine and Indonesian canning industry, though it belongs to the genus Sardinella rather than Sardina.
The European pilchard is the only species that may be marketed unqualified as 'sardines' in the European Union under Council Regulation (EEC) No 2136/89.
The European sprat is a small clupeid of the Baltic and North Sea that is commonly canned and sometimes marketed as 'sardines' or 'brisling sardines', but it is not a true sardine under EU labelling rules.
The round sardinella is a warm-water sardine of the Atlantic and Mediterranean and a genuine member of the Clupeidae, though distinct from the European pilchard.
Sardinops sagax is a genuine sardine of the Pacific and southern oceans used by some US and Pacific canning brands, distinct from the European pilchard.
Brands whose fish varies by catch or supplier, or couldn't be pinned to one species.
These brands can't be pinned to a single species — the fish varies by catch, supplier, or region, or the evidence simply isn't there. We don't force them into a definite bucket.
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