bostonbaker re: fish article

Rock-n-Voll · October 2011

Thanks again for PMing that article to me. It was both eye-opening and depressing.

The Globe collected fish from 134 restaurants, grocery stores, and seafood markets from Leominster to Provincetown, and hired a laboratory in Canada to conduct DNA testing on the samples. Analyses by the DNA lab and other scientists showed that 87 of 183 were sold with the wrong species name - 48 percent.

What's worse is that it sounds like many of the errors were deliberately made, including Ming Tsai's Sad If you happen to see any follow ups come out of this article, I'd love to know.

bostonbaker · October 2011

Oh there was another one on Monday, focusing more (and I think putting some of the blame) on the distributors. They also did one on Sunday about Bertucci's fixing their mistake. I'll send them to you. I found it very interesting how little is regulated by the FDA. I never thought about it before.

bostonbaker · October 2011

Sent. Let me know what you think!

ElonCouple · October 2011

I thought the whole series was very interesting and yes depressing. the statistic explaining how many beef/chicken inspectors their are compared to seafood is just nuts!

I thought the one quote in the original article from a restaurant owner basically saying 'well everyone is doing it' was just ridiculous! Dont put the fish entree on the menu if you dont have the fish to make it!

Dr.Loretta · October 2011

There was also a piece on it on NPR yesterday.

Rock-n-Voll · October 2011

baker, thanks for sending the rest of the articles. Will get to them and let you know what I think.

bostonbaker · October 2011

Another follow-up article today on possible policy changes. I think this link should work today at least.

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2011/10/27/following_globe_stories_on_mislabeled_fish_state_officials_say_theyll_improve_oversight/?page=full

Rock, this is about your fav fish:

Celebrity chef Ming Tsai, who owns the Blue Ginger restaurant in Wellesley, said he believed Alaskan butterfish, his signature dish, was a suitable label for the sablefish he was serving. Tsai said that when he put it on the menu more than a decade ago, he consulted his supplier and other chefs to find a better-sounding name for sablefish.

According to the FDA, eight species can be called butterfish, but sablefish is not on the list of acceptable market names. Tsai said he was not trying to pass off an inexpensive fish as pricey, noting that he pays $20 a pound for sablefish, which is sustainable and line-caught.

?I did not ever intentionally deceive customers,?? he said. ?I did make a technical mistake and now that I know, I?ll change the name.??

bostonbaker · October 2011

Also, I will throw out my feelings on this. It doesn't seem to affect me too much, as when I do eat fish at a restaurant I tend to do go for a cod or haddock. From what I can tell, the worst switch that I am getting is something frozen and not local when it is advertised as fresh and local. That sucks, and I am mad to be paying a premium price for less than premium seafood, but at least it is the same fish. I am not sure if this switch is something that could be easily regulated.

I definitely think there should be clear guidelines on fish names and source documentation. Some of these cases are crazy.

bostonbaker re: fish article

Re: bostonbaker re: fish article

Choose Another Board

Search Boards