Fish fraud: The menus said snapper, but it wasn't!

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/3...ushi10.article

May 10, 2007

BY JANET RAUSA FULLER, _Chicago Sun - Times_ Staff Reporter

"The sushi menus said red snapper, a fish prized for its flavor -- and
priced accordingly.

But a Sun-Times investigation found good reason to question whether diners
are getting what's promised.

The newspaper had DNA tests done on sushi described as red snapper or
"Japanese red snapper" bought from 14 restaurants in Chicago and suburbs.
Not a single one was really red snapper.

In most cases, the red-tinged flesh draped across the small mound of rice
was tilapia -- a cheap substitute. Nine of the 14 samples were tilapia. Four
were red sea bream -- nearly as pricey but still not red snapper.

"It's misbranding, and it's fraud," said Spring Randolph of the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration, which oversees labeling of seafood.

And there's ample reason to believe diners around the country similarly are
being taken in, the Sun-Times found:

.. Some restaurant owners said that when they order red snapper, their
suppliers send what the owners acknowledged, after checking, is actually
tilapia. And most sushi fish in the United States comes from just a handful
of suppliers.

.. There's little government oversight. Generally, that's left to the
FDA. Though the agency tries to investigate complaints, "We are not directly
going out looking for species substitution," Randolph said.

.. Another FDA official said: "From the reports that we have received,
there has been an increase in species substitution. It is a problem."


Popularity leads to overfishing

Three years ago, prompted in part by concerns over mislabeled tilapia, the
Japanese government called on retailers to accurately label fish.
In the United States, the Congressional Research Service -- Congress'
research arm -- issued a report last month citing a government survey that
found 37 percent of fish examined by the National Marine Fisheries Service
were mislabeled. A separate survey by the Fisheries Service found a whopping
80 percent of red snapper was mislabeled.

With red snapper, there's incentive to cheat. It brings a good price. And
the fish -- found largely in the western Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico --
has become so popular that it's overfished, making it harder to find. As a
result, it's among the most commonly "substituted" fish, according to the
FDA.

There are roughly 250 snapper species worldwide. Under federal law, just one
can be sold as red snapper -- the one known to scientists as Lutjanus
campechanus.

Whole red snapper sells for $9 a pound, or more, retail. Tilapia sells for
half that. But restaurant owners said they're not trying to mislead
customers.

At Chi Tung, 9560 S. Kedzie, owner Jinny Zhao reacted to being told the
sushi she sells as red snapper is really tilapia by insisting that couldn't
be.

"Of course, it's red snapper," Zhao said. "If we order red snapper, we have
to get red snapper."

Hur San, owner of Sushi Mura, 3647 N. Southport, also seemed surprised.

"We just order [from] the fish company, and they deliver red snapper," said
San.

Then, at a reporter's request, he examined the box. He saw these words:
"Izumidai. Tilapia. From Taiwan."

Izumidai is the Japanese term for tilapia.

At Bluefin Sushi Bar in Bucktown, Andrew Kim, the restaurant's general
manager, was surprised to find the same labeling.

"It's tilapia," Kim said. "I just saw that. I never thought to look at the
description."

At Todai, inside Schaumburg's Woodfield mall, what was labeled on the buffet
line as red snapper shouldn't have been, a company spokesman said.

"This is an isolated incident," said Paul Lee, a vice president of the
California chain.

At Sushi Bento, 1512 N. Naper Blvd. in Naperville, manager Jamie Park said
she was sure her restaurant served real red snapper. Told that the DNA
testing showed it was tilapia, Park said, "Tilapia and red snapper look
alike. They're really close. They taste almost the same."

At Tatsu, 1062 W. Taylor in the Little Italy neighborhood, the menu lists
"tai, red snapper." Tai actually refers to another fish -- red sea bream.

But it really was tilapia, the tests showed. Told that, manager Ten Smith
said he'd noticed that the label read tilapia but didn't think much of it.
He said, "The vendor recommends this [tilapia] fillet."

Japanese Food Corporation, a major supplier with an office in Hanover Park,
provides sushi fish to at least three restaurants in the Sun-Times survey. A
spokeswoman said she couldn't say whether the restaurants ask for red
snapper, only that the company sells -- and properly labels -- tilapia as
izumidai. "We don't call it red snapper," she said.


$2,000 fine

True World Foods, another major supplier, provides sushi fish to at least
four of the restaurants surveyed. No one from the company, which has
headquarters in New Jersey and an office in Elk Grove Village, returned
calls for comment.
Zhao, the owner of Chi Tung, said her restaurant buys fish from True World.
She said she called the company about the test results: "They said they gave
us red snapper."

At Renga Tei in Lincolnwood, the red snapper sushi turned out to be red sea
bream. Chef and owner Hisao Yamada said he pays $11.50 to $11.95 a pound for
sea bream. It's a highly regarded fish. So why not call it sea bream? "Most
American customers don't know the name sea bream," Yamada said.

Sushi Wabi, 842 W. Randolph, also offers red snapper that's really red sea
bream. Told that, owner Angela Hepler checked an invoice, which,
confusingly, was marked "Tai (New Zealand Snapper/Bream)."

A day later, Hepler dropped the item, saying, "I don't believe in
overfishing and killing out a species or being sold something that I thought
was something other than it really is."

"It's a concern that no restaurant seems to be offering the right fish,"
said Bill McCaffrey, spokesman for Chicago's Department of Consumer
Services. "It suggests that this is an accepted industry practice."

In Chicago, mislabeling fish is punishable by fines of up to $2,000.
McCaffrey said he didn't know of any restaurants being cited for fish fraud.

John Connelly, president of the National Fisheries Institute, the seafood
industry's main trade group, said substituting fish is like buying a cheap
knockoff of a designer product.

"It's fraud, and it should be stopped," said Connelly. "If a person has a
certain experience with a lower-end fish and they think it's a higher-end
fish, then their view of the higher-end fish may not be as positive."


[WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Think you're getting a raw deal by being served a fish that's not what the
menu promised? In Chicago, you can call 311 to file a complaint with the
Department of Consumer Services. The city agency would examine the
restaurant's invoices and could issue a citation, a spokesman said]


Confusing sushi terms

http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/3...name10.article

May 10, 2007

"On sushi menus, what's called red snapper is usually labeled, in Japanese,
as tai.

In Japan, the word refers to sea bream, a fish caught off the coast of Japan
and eaten on special occasions, said Tsuyoshi Iwata, director of agriculture
and fisheries in the New York office of the Japan External Trade
Organization, a government-related group that promotes trade between the
United States and Japan.

But, over time, tai seems to have taken on a broader meaning in the United
States, used to refer to both sea bream and red snapper. On the menu of
every restaurant surveyed by the Sun-Times that offered tai, the word was
translated as "red snapper."

The Japanese word Izumidai refers to tilapia -- a term fish dealers in Japan
probably made up when the non-native species became popular and became
widely available there, Iwata said. The word translates as "fountain tai."
But you won't see the word izumidai on many menus.

Iwata and other experts theorized that, because tilapia is similar in flavor
and texture to tai -- and because it's easier to get than red snapper --
Japanese restaurants in the U.S. have taken to using it instead, even though
their menus still say tai or red snapper because that's what American diners
recognize.

Ironically, some sushi chefs said red snapper isn't even suited well for
sushi or sashimi because its flesh is too soft."

</>

"Gregory Morrow" > wrote in message
ink.net...
>
>
> Fish fraud: The menus said snapper, but it wasn't!
>
> http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/3...ushi10.article
>
> May 10, 2007
>
> BY JANET RAUSA FULLER, _Chicago Sun - Times_ Staff Reporter
>
> "The sushi menus said red snapper, a fish prized for its flavor -- and
> priced accordingly.
>
> But a Sun-Times investigation found good reason to question whether diners
> are getting what's promised.


I don't recall where I read something similar about the same issue in
Florida restaurants. The state's fish & game scientists did DNA tests on
something like 25 samples, and identified most as being some other known
fish, but not the one it was sold as. For a few samples, they couldn't
identify them at all. They were mostly from fish farms in Asia, and had
probably never been entered into the databases used in this country.

In article . net>,
"Gregory Morrow" > wrote:

> Fish fraud: The menus said snapper, but it wasn't!
>
> http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/3...ushi10.article
snip!
> With red snapper, there's incentive to cheat. It brings a good price. And
> the fish -- found largely in the western Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico --
> has become so popular that it's overfished, making it harder to find. As a
> result, it's among the most commonly "substituted" fish, according to the
> FDA.
>
> There are roughly 250 snapper species worldwide. Under federal law, just one
> can be sold as red snapper -- the one known to scientists as Lutjanus
> campechanus.

Here on the West Coast, Red Snapper is almost always one of several
species of the genus Sebastodes. Often, a pretty decent fish if it's
fresh. Apparently, fishing for these species is being curtailed due to
habitat damage caused by heavy trawling gear. Kind of makes you wonder
which fish will next inherit the name?

D.M.

In article >,
Donald Martinich > wrote:

> In article . net>,
> "Gregory Morrow" > wrote:
>
> > Fish fraud: The menus said snapper, but it wasn't!
> >
> > http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/3...ushi10.article
> snip!
> > With red snapper, there's incentive to cheat. It brings a good price. And
> > the fish -- found largely in the western Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico --
> > has become so popular that it's overfished, making it harder to find. As a
> > result, it's among the most commonly "substituted" fish, according to the
> > FDA.
> >
> > There are roughly 250 snapper species worldwide. Under federal law, just one
> > can be sold as red snapper -- the one known to scientists as Lutjanus
> > campechanus.
>
> Here on the West Coast, Red Snapper is almost always one of several
> species of the genus Sebastodes. Often, a pretty decent fish if it's
> fresh. Apparently, fishing for these species is being curtailed due to
> habitat damage caused by heavy trawling gear. Kind of makes you wonder
> which fish will next inherit the name?

Also, this sort of fraud happens with other seafoods too. Skate is often
passed off as scallops and that fake crab is often passed off as real
crab in many restaurants.

Greg forwarded:

> Fish fraud: The menus said snapper, but it wasn't!
>
> http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/3...ushi10.article
>
> May 10, 2007


I guess the question is, what's a consumer to do? Demand a tour of the
kitchen, or proof of the provenance of the provender? Or just stop eating
sushi altogether (except for those items which can be positively identified
by sight)?

Bob

In article >,
Donald Martinich > wrote:

> Here on the West Coast, Red Snapper is almost always one of several
> species of the genus Sebastodes. Often, a pretty decent fish if it's
> fresh. Apparently, fishing for these species is being curtailed due to
> habitat damage caused by heavy trawling gear. Kind of makes you wonder
> which fish will next inherit the name?

We fished for red snapper, grey snapper and China cod out of Sebastapol
from the fifties till the mid seventies on charter boats. But wait! They
were red rockfish, gray rockfish and (as far as I know) China cod. I
haven't googled. Someone snagged an octopus once and I got to play with
it after they had cut out his beak. I was twelve in it was sucker
popping time.

leo

--
<http://web0.greatbasin.net/~leo/>

Bob Terwilliger wrote:

> I guess the question is, what's a consumer to do? Demand a tour of the
> kitchen, or proof of the provenance of the provender? Or just stop eating
> sushi altogether (except for those items which can be positively identified
> by sight)?


That's my question. I'm seriously allergic to some sorts of seafood and
get along fine with others. I'm not interested in law suits; I'm
interested in getting the type of fish I ordered from the menu. Would
it take a dead allergic person and a law suit to make the restaurant
owners, purveyors and law enforcers take the issue seriously?


--Lia

"Julia Altshuler" > wrote in message
. ..
> Bob Terwilliger wrote:
>
>> I guess the question is, what's a consumer to do? Demand a tour of the
>> kitchen, or proof of the provenance of the provender? Or just stop
>> eating sushi altogether (except for those items which can be positively
>> identified by sight)?
>
>
> That's my question. I'm seriously allergic to some sorts of seafood and
> get along fine with others. I'm not interested in law suits; I'm
> interested in getting the type of fish I ordered from the menu. Would it
> take a dead allergic person and a law suit to make the restaurant owners,
> purveyors and law enforcers take the issue seriously?
>
>
> --Lia
>

Most seafood allergies involve shellfish. Obviously, I don't know your
medical history, but I'd be surprised if you were sensitive to cod (for
example), but not red snapper.

Stan Horwitz wrote:
> In article >,
> Donald Martinich > wrote:
>
>> In article . net>,
>> "Gregory Morrow" > wrote:
>>
>>> Fish fraud: The menus said snapper, but it wasn't!
>>>
> Also, this sort of fraud happens with other seafoods too. Skate is
> often passed off as scallops and that fake crab is often passed off
> as real crab in many restaurants.

Yes indeed regarding the Skate = faux sea scallops. You can usually tell if
they look like they were cut out using a small round cookie cutter. Real
scallops are not that uniform in shape. And for the price, you really want
to get the real thing!

Jill