This is just the latest revelation in the stealth inflation and food fraud theme I have written about frequently in recent months. The non-profit group Oceana took samples of 1,215 fish sold in the U.S. and genetic tests found that that 59% of those labeled tuna were mislabeled. It seems that “white tuna” should be avoided in particular as “84% of fish samples labeled “white tuna” were actually escolar, a fish that can cause prolonged, uncontrollable, oily anal leakage.” Oh and if you live in my hometown of New York City, you should pay particular attention:
Big Apple has big problem with seafood fraud: 94 percent of tuna and more than three quarters of sushi samples in New York City mislabeled.
Of the 142 fish samples collected in New York, 39 percent were mislabeled. New York City led the nation with the highest occurrence of mislabeled salmon as well as the highest amount of fraud among salmon collected from grocery stores and restaurants.
National Seafood Fraud Testing Results FINAL by Oceania
Bon appétit!
In Liberty,
Mike
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I actually read the whole report the other day, given the alarming title and results, etc. Main takeaways are: 1) never order “white tuna” from a sushi restaurant, there is no such thing. That comprises almost all of the tuna mislabeling; 2) Most of the other mislabeling comes from slightly different species of the same fish, for example, red snapper and carribien red snapper. I’m not saying its ok to mislabel, just nothing crazy; 3) If you are specifically buying “Wild” Salmon, make sure you trust your source, this was the only concerning “inflation” or fraud area, most other mislabeling appears to be not intential, while there appears to be isolated cases of fraud. After reading the entire report, I am much less concerned than after seeing the title.
Thank you for the synopsis!
U.S.D.A. May Approve Horse Slaughter Plant
Justin DeJong, a spokesman for the agriculture department, said that “several” companies had asked the agency to re-establish inspection of horses for slaughter. “These companies must still complete necessary technical requirements and the F.S.I.S. must complete its inspector training,” he wrote in an e-mail referring to the food inspection service.
He said the Obama administration was urging Congress to reinstate an effective ban on the production of horse meat for human consumption that lapsed in 2011.
The impending approval comes amid growing concern among American consumers that horse meat will somehow make its way into ground beef products in the United States as it has done in Europe. Major companies, including Tesco, Nestlé and Ikea, have had to pull food from shelves in 14 countries after tests showed that products labeled 100 percent beef actually contained small amounts of horse meat. Horse meat is not necessarily unsafe, and in some countries, it is popular. But some opponents of horse slaughtering say consumption of horse meat is ill-advised because of the use of various kinds of drugs in horses.
“We now have the very real prospect of a horse slaughtering plant operating in the U.S. for the first time in six years,” said Wayne Pacelle, chief executive of the Humane Society of the United States. The last plant that slaughtered horse meat for human consumption in the United States closed in 2007, after Congressional approval of an appropriations bill that included a rider forbidding the U.S.D.A. from financing the inspection of such meat. That rider was renewed in subsequent appropriations bills until 2011, when Congress quietly removed it from an omnibus spending act.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/business/usda-may-approve-horse-slaughter-plant.html?
Tuna is similar to the horse-meat scandal in how rising commodity prices coupled with consumer demand for low prices has led some parts of the supply chain to cut corners (putting it mildly!). Tuna prices have doubled over the past few years due to restrictions on fishing nets while retail prices, particularly in the US have remained under massive pressure.
Check out my blog post at http://www.materials-risk.com where I discuss in more detail.
leave the fish alone…..soon there will be none…people get a clue!!!!!