From the New York Times:
They hit 4 restaurants and 10 grocery stores in Manhattan. Once the samples were home, whether in doggie bags or shopping bags, they cut away a small piece and preserved it in alcohol. They sent those off to the University of Guelph in Ontario, where the Barcode of Life Database project began. A graduate student there, Eugene Wong, works on the Fish Barcode of Life (dubbed, inevitably, Fish-BOL) and agreed to do the genetic analysis. He compared the teenagers’ samples with the global library of 30,562 bar codes representing nearly 5,500 fish species. (Commercial labs will also perform the analysis for a fee.)
Three hundred dollars’ worth of meals later, the young researchers had their data back from Guelph: 2 of the 4 restaurants and 6 of the 10 grocery stores had sold mislabeled fish.
This isn't really surprising, considering that the Chicago Sun-Times did essentially the same thing and found that none of their 14 samples of "red snapper" were actually "red snapper."
One fish monger who passed the DNA test was glad that the kids (with the help of one of the girl's father, who is a scientist) did the testing:
John Leonard, the owner [of Leonards’ Seafood and Prime Meats on Third Avenue], said he was not surprised to find that his products passed the bar code test. “We go down and pick the fish out ourselves,” he said. “We know what we’re doing.” As for the technology, Mr. Leonard said, “it’s good for the public,” since “it would probably keep restaurateurs and owners of markets more on their toes.”
Fish Tale Has DNA Hook: Students Find Bad Labels [NYT](Thanks, Jon!)
]]>@jjeefff: nothing, absolutley nothing!!
]]>The worst thing is when restaurants sell Chinese basa fish as catfish. They're two totally different species. Real US farm raised catfish are raised in spring water ponds (no sewage!), and they don't even bottom feed; they're fed with floating feed.
Mississippi and Louisiana actually banned basa fish after finding illegal chemicals in it, and thus began the Chinese Poison Train.
]]>I saw that too. God love Mike Rowe!
It didn't stop me from eating them. They are delicious.
]]>LOL!!! Thanks for the chuckle!
]]>@picardia: probably whitefish
]]>BTW,mahi mahi is dolphin...not the Flipper kind...its a fish.restaurants had to change the name so customers wouldn't think they were eating Flipper!
]]>Also since this is going to come up at one point. Scallops that are marked sea scallops or processed scallops ARE NOT skate or shark. These scallops are treated with tripolyphosphate so they soak up water. Dry pack scallops are not treated so they are a better quality scallop. It is very difficult to cut skate in such a way on an industrial level to make it look like a scallop especially when the yield from it would cut into profit and most chefs can tell the difference.
And while I'm at it:
Amberjack is not mahi
Ahi meens tuna or yellowfin tuna. Saying ahi tuna is silly
Ono and wahoo are the same god damn fish just buy the cheaper wahoo
Langostino is from a squat lobster which isn't really a lobster but it still tastes good.
lidor7: While you are blaming the consumer there are a lot of upscale places that charge you the premium and give you the mediocre. Knowing what you are buying is the most important point and if your ever in doubt buy the fish whole and fillet it yourself.
bohemian: There are labeling regulations it is called the cool act the problem is that a Canadian fishmerman whose boat is registered out of panama catches swordfish off the coast of Africa and ports in Miami, where is that fish from?
According the Cool act. Miami
SadSam: Tilapia is a very efficient fish when it comes to biomass converted into edible body mass. A lot of third world countries just fill up lakes with the stuff. Since the stuff is like catfish and will eat anything it is cheap.
]]>The problem with today's consumer products are that everyone is so focused on getting things cheaply that all they get are cheap items, which is expected. But I can't say I blame the consumer because for every one company that sells quality products for a premium there are 9 other companies trying to scam you into buying a cheap product that only looks expensive.
]]>@picardia: It's new 100% vegan soy based fish substitue the great taste you've come to know and love from fish in an all vegan morssile that peta and even the most dissering fish lover can agree on! which raises the qusetion where does the taste come from?
]]>@jjeefff: NOTHING! ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
STUPIIID! YOU SO STUPIIID!
]]>I would really like to see some labeling regulations and stiff fines for lying about them. I want to know country of origin, wild or farm, species and if it was fresh or frozen then thawed back out.
]]>@Claystil:
I hear you. While I eat fish my Dad gave me a pocket guide from this organization [www.fishonline.org] that provides information on which fish to avoid due to overfishing. I'm not suggesting people should be eating red snapper, what I am suggesting is that diners shouldn't be lied to. If my local sports bar is advertising a red snapper sandwich for $10 I already know its not red snapper based on the pricing. People shouldn't eat certain fish because its over fished but supplies shouldn't advertise or sell mislabeled fish either.
]]>@ludwigk: I was kind of shocked to learn that there was a fish called "whitefish". That species really got the naming shaft.
But not as badly as cod. (Yuk Yuk)
]]>I know this because I saw it on "Dirty Jobs" with Mike Rowe. He'd never lie to me.
]]>There was a huge class action lawsuit a while back against Packard Bell for selling new computers with some used and refub parts. But at least you got a working computer that did what it was supposed to do.
Now there's restaurants claiming to sell you "expensive fish" and giving you "cheap fish" instead and nobody seems to care! "Yah, they do this all the time." What? Are you kidding me? False adverising; fraud; pick something and go with it!
]]>i'd bet in a double blind 99 out of 100 food snobs wouldn't taste he difference between a red snapper and even the lowliest of rockfish.
]]>Outside of fish sticks, my only other fish consumption is basically sashimi, or a chirashi bowl.
This report is disheartening. Not only am I unknowledgeable in buying fresh fish, but I'm not likely to get what I think I'm buying!
]]>This is a huge problem in Florida and the Attorney General has started cracking down.
]]>@sir_pantsalot: I loved fish sticks when I was young. Delicious all white cod. Crunchy crumb coating. Yum! They don't make those anymore - anywhere (that I can find). What they make these days are breading sticks. Lumps of sticky batter with a tiny sliver of mystery fish inside. Coatings that can't be made crunchy even if you cook them five times the recommended time. Yuk! No thanks. No more fish sticks for me or mine.
]]>My biggest concern isn't so much that your eating a close relative of the fish... but where the fish was caught (if wild and not farmed). Simply because even if it's caught in clean water, doesn't mean it only swam in clean water. There's a lot of pollution out there, and I don't want my dinner swimming in it.
]]>@mewyn dyner: Would that be the same sting mentioned in the OP? Or another Chicago fish-mislabling sting?
]]>I guess this is what happens when you spin the Wheel of Fish.
]]>Bwahahaha! I'm here all week.
Cheers!
]]>Both local wing joints / "man havens" (Hooters and Wing House respectively) humorously cover their bases on this by referring to their fish offerings toungue-in-cheek as "Grouper's Cousin" and "Grouper's Teammate" respectively. That being said, I've had both (not being a big fan of chicken wings), and, whatever they are, they are not terribly bad substitutes for grouper (i.e. actually quite tasty for "bar & grill" fish offerings).
BTW - Talipia, despite its humble origins, is a very tasty fish, but if you're paying for Snapper, you should be getting Snapper (i.e. the Folger's switch in this situation is WRONG).
]]>the one-eyed variant, I suppose?
]]>"You found the marble in the oatmeal, now you get to drink out of the fire hose!"
]]>@ChuckECheese: Not the red snapper part..
STUPID! STUPID! STUPID! (also from the same scene in UHF)
]]>Red Snapper is people....PEOPLE!!!
]]>Trouser trout.
]]>The unanswered question -- what was in the package, if not red snapper?
]]>