It isn’t just Los Angeles that is having a problem with mislabeled fish — a new study that tested seafood on menus, at grocery stores and in fancy specialty shops in New York City says plenty of the fish offerings there are frequently misidentified. So while you might think you’re ordering up a nice slab of red snapper, it could just be a regular old piece of tialpia. That kind of mislabeling and misrepresentation could also lead to plenty of health problems, say researchers. [More]
L.A. Seafood Task Force’s Catch Of The Day Features Lots Of Mislabeled Fish
By November 21, 2012
What you see is apparently not always what you’re getting in L.A., says a county Seafood Task Force that took on the problem of mislabeled fish in the food industry. The group found that a whole slew of issues that were widespread across supermarkets and restaurants alike that could pose health problems for consumers. [More]
Monster Energy Assumes Consumers Can’t Distinguish Energy Drinks From Fish Tanks
By July 17, 2012
We thought that the company behind Monster Energy drink (and its lawyers) were done with petty legal action against anyone bold enough to use the word “Monster.” We last reported on such action in 2009. Turns out that the, uh, monster was only sleeping, though, and the company has re-emerged to issue a cease and desist order to an aquarium keepers’ forum, Monster Fishkeepers. That site has owned their trademark since 2005, but Monster Energy apparently claims to own the word “monster.” And the letter “M.” [More]
Adventures In Fictional Fish: There's No Such Thing As White Ruffy
By November 21, 2011
If the recent exposé on falsely labeled fish by our lab coat-wearing kin at Consumer Reports has you approaching fish buying with a critical eye, you’re not alone. [More]
Eateries Fudge Fish Labels To Make Them More Appealing
By October 24, 2011
The menu may identify a fish dish as one thing, but that doesn’t necessarily stop the cook from sending in a stunt-fish to take its place. The practice of baiting diners with an attractive-sounding fish and switching it with something less appealing may be more common than most people realize. [More]
Target Stops Selling Farmed Salmon. Also, Target Apparently Sells Salmon.
By January 26, 2010
Target has announced that, due to love of the planet, they have decided to stop selling farmed salmon. Salmon farms, according to Target’s press release, produce “pollution, chemicals, parasites and non-native farmed fish that escape from salmon farms all affect the natural habitat and the native salmon in the surrounding areas.” They’re switching to “sustainable” wild salmon. [More]
Bank Of America Seizes Wrong House, Causes Big Stink. No, Really.
By January 12, 2010
Last October, Bank of America screwed up and seized a vacation home that didn’t belong to them. They also changed the locks and shut off the power, leaving 75 pounds of salmon and halibut rotting for a week before it was discovered, writes Laura Elder of the Galveston Daily News.
The owner, Dr. Alan Schroit, and his wife discovered what had happened when they showed up on Halloween to prepare for a party they were going to host the next day.
Sushi "Tuna" Might Be Endangered, Dangerous, Or Fake
By November 23, 2009
Biologists testing DNA code identification technology discovered that the tuna they ordered at sushi restaurants was actually hazardous or fake fish, or even an endangered species.
Now In Farmed Fish: Mad Cow Disease?!
By July 5, 2009
Three scientists worry that feeding cow parts to farmed fish could expose seafood consumers to mad cow disease. The scientists published their findings in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease and called on the government to ban cow meat and bone meal from appearing in fish feed.
Sci-fi Fish Scaring the Hell Out Of Us
By July 3, 2009
If you subsisted on a diet entirely of fish, which would kill you first: mad-cow fish or super tuna? Two stories this week make you wonder. First, Reuters reports on the risk of mad cow disease from farmed fish. Scientists are concerned that the fish, who, curiously enough, dine on pieces of cow, may transmit Creutzfeldt Jakob disease to humans.
Buy Your Dead Fish For Less At Walmart
By June 1, 2009
A reader sent us the following pics of the neglected aquariums in her local Walmart in Carmi, Illinois. She complained to a manager, but when she checked back “several hours later,” the tanks remained untouched. Well, the dead fish were probably slightly smaller, since the remaining live fish were eating them.
Use Free Trade To Promote Food Safety
By May 20, 2009
National Journal has an interesting article about the intersection of free trade and globalization with increased food safety abroad and at home. Rather than reject shipments of Chinese fish for being raised in disgusting environments, the US should require trading partners to set and enforce their own strict food safety standards and use globalization as a way to promote better standards worldwide, instead of a race to the bottom.
Fishy Selling Practices At Kansas City Restaurants: 85% Of The Fish On The Menu Is Not The Fish On The Menu
By May 14, 2009
An NBC investigation in Kansas City, Mo., has discovered that 85% of area restaurants surveyed use cheaper fish in place of the one listed on the menu. Instead of red snapper, they mostly served tilapia—which costs five times less. Even “Red Snapper” restaurant was caught serving something that wasn’t red snapper.
Trader Joe's Salmon Comes With Delectable Organic Free-Range Worm
By April 24, 2009
Reader David was eating his dinner of Trader Joe’s Chimichurri salmon when he found an unexpected garnish: a rather dead and fully cooked worm. It was brown and roughly an inch long. He e-mailed the company, then brought the fish (and worm) back to the store for a refund. While the store supervisor’s handling of the situation was stellar, the reaction from Trader Joe’s corporate has been…nonexistent.
US Airways Delivers Corpse To Pet Store
By March 11, 2009
If you’re a pet store employee, probably the only thing worse than opening up a shipment of live tropical fish to find them dead is opening up a shipment of live tropical fish to find a human body intended for a research facility in a neighboring town. That’s what happened at a Pets Plus in Philadelphia yesterday, and US Airways says the mixup was caused by a “verbal miscommunication between a delivery driver and the cargo representative” and that they’re deeply sorry.
High School Students Bust Restaurants And Grocery Stores For Selling Mislabeled Fish
By August 22, 2008
Two high school students decided to see if New Yorkers were really getting what they paid for when they ordered expensive fish. Guess what? Sometimes, they weren’t.
