Genetic testing reveals fake fish on your plate

Oceana’s findings are not exactly subtle, since their report is titled “Widespread Seafood Fraud Found in New York City,” and is available as a pdf download. As many outlets, including the New York Times, recently reported, Oceana used genetic testing to prove that among other dubious swaps,  tilapia and tilefish are often passed off as the more expensive red snapper. Other cited examples were tilapia posing as catfish, escolar sold as white tuna, while an Asian fish called pangasius (or ponga) is routinely passed off as everything from catfish to sole to flounder to grouper. FDA rules even allow fast food chains (and others) to sell langostino as lobster, despite the simple and rather obvious fact that it is not (it’s actually a member of the crab family), and that real lobster is both expensive and highly coveted. The Oceana study purchased 13 varieties of seafood, of which only four did not turn out to be fakes some of the time. It noted that every single one of the 16 sushi restaurants tested – 100% – failed in accuracy, and overall so did 39% – well more than third – of restaurants and retail fish sellers. That is widespread.

View the original article here: Fake Fish On Your Plate – The Kobe Beef Of The Seas?

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