Seafood Company Fined $1M Tue, 02/07/2012 - 12:53pm
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal prosecutors say a Torrance, Calif.-based seafood corporation has been ordered to pay $1 million in fines and community service donations for falsely labeling frozen catfish fillets as grouper.
U.S. attorney's office spokesman Thom Mrozek says Seafood Solutions Inc. was fined $700,000 on Monday, and ordered to donate $300,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
Seafood Solutions and two defendants were convicted on July 25, 2011, for trafficking in fish known to be transported and sold in violation of the U.S. Lacey Act.
Co-defendants Chau-Shing Lin and Christopher Ragone have pleaded guilty and are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 13.
The charitable donation is to be used to fund projects related to methodologies, databases and other research into the identification of marine organisms.
16 comments:
The East coast territory from Maine to Florida was controlled exclusively by the Queens Vaad.
The big baby Executive Drecktor is impersonating a Queens Vaad critic again with shtussim? Is that what the Queens Vaad pays you for?
WHO CAUGHT THE NIRABATOR ?
http://www.totpi.com/press.htm
investigations in the jewish circles
The TOT PI meshugenah was arrested multiple times for serious crimes.
I've never been to Torrance, CA, but I think we can assume that any catfish would be flicked out of the way with minimal effort.
I demand to know what kind of methods that Federal prosecutors used in determining the species before they start rubbing shoulders with Yudel Shain.
At least he gets paid. Whats You excuse for blogging havlei havolim???
He gets paid by the Queens Vaad to provide a service to the public which is not fulfilled even when he has a few moments left over from monitoring the blogs and bickering with his critics.
This story comes out of California, USA.
It suggests that even non-kosher American companies seem to need an independent oversight mechanism (a "mashgiach") to keep them on track with their honesty.
He gets paid by the Queens Vaad to provide a service to the public which is not fulfilled
How would you know what he's paid?
You yourself claim that he's doing a great job satisfying his bosses?
But then again, you have nothing constructive to say today or anytime.
Fish Tale Has DNA Hook: Students Find Bad Labels
Many New York sushi restaurants and seafood markets are playing a game of bait and switch, say two high school students turned high-tech sleuths.
In a tale of teenagers, sushi and science, Kate Stoeckle and Louisa Strauss, who graduated this year from the Trinity School in Manhattan, took on a freelance science project in which they checked 60 samples of seafood using a simplified genetic fingerprinting technique to see whether the fish New Yorkers buy is what they think they are getting.
They found that one-fourth of the fish samples with identifiable DNA were mislabeled. A piece of sushi sold as the luxury treat white tuna turned out to be Mozambique tilapia, a much cheaper fish that is often raised by farming. Roe supposedly from flying fish was actually from smelt. Seven of nine samples that were called red snapper were mislabeled, and they turned out to be anything from Atlantic cod to Acadian redfish, an endangered species...
Read the rest at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/22/science/22fish.html
http://www.jhu.edu/jhumag/1108web/wholly.html#dna
From the article:
Stoeckle and Strauss then went to four sushi restaurants, taking leftovers home in a doggy bag, and made their way to 10 supermarkets, where they bought various types of fish. "There was a strict process to it," says Strauss. "We took a picture of the label, we took a picture of the fish, we cut a piece of the fish, put it in a vial with rubbing alcohol using sterilized tweezers, and labeled everything." Then they sent the vials to Canada, using a kit that Wong had provided. "It was like developing film," Stoeckle says. "We took the 'pictures,' and they developed the film. We didn't go into it thinking we would find anything. It was more about finding out whether the [DNA barcoding] technology would work for sushi and fish."
Strauss and Stoeckle sent in 60 samples; the barcoding worked on 56 of them (those that did not work had been pickled). A quarter of the samples, 14 of 56, from two of the four restaurants and six of the 10 markets, had been mislabeled. Mozambique tilapia was wrongly labeled "White Tuna," and "Mediterranean Red Mullet" was actually spotted goatfish, found only in the Caribbean. Seven out of nine samples of red snapper had been mislabeled, and of those, two were actually the endangered species Acadian redfish. All of the mislabeled samples had been marketed as more expensive or more desirable fish. Pacific Fishing magazine published the results of their study in its September 2008 issue.
http://www.canada.com/tech+allows+testing+mislabelled+mystery+fish/5937257/story.html
DNA tech allows for testing of mislabelled mystery fish
VANCOUVER - Cheaper DNA testing technology is making it easier than ever for regulators and seafood firms to crack down on seafood mislabelling.
Recent research has found that 25 to 41 per cent of the fish sold at retail and by restaurants is not actually the species listed on the label or the menu, making it almost impossible for consumers to make ethical and sustainable seafood choices.
So, Victoria-based seafood importer Tradex foods in December implemented DNA testing on seafood processed in China for its Sinbad house label.
Samples taken at overseas processing facilities are flown to the United States and tested by Illinois-based DNA sequencing and analysis company ACGT Inc. while the fish itself is in transit to North America by ship.
Between 10 and 30 samples are analyzed each month at about $70 per sample.
"A big part of our business model is centred around eliminating fraud, which is rampant in our industry",said Tradex spokesperson Ryan McKay. "We have definitely detected (species substitution) in our competitors' products"...
"he's doing a great job satisfying his bosses"
Which is by inaction or cover ups.
They are defrauding the Charedi public by lying that the Queens Vaad is a "mehadrin" standard of kashrus.
They are defrauding the Charedi public by lying that the Queens Vaad is a "mehadrin" standard of kashrus.
There are no "CHAREDI" people in Queens. Even if you hang out at RYT's place.
The only Charedi in Queens are the Rabbonim. Any one interested in being Charedi, the FIRST thing they do is move OUT. That includes the 'Grobeh yoong' with the charedi name tag. Spotlight carries his charedi card for business only (or for meddling in other people's business).
A lot of Queens residents will be very offended to know that Chaim Schwartz hot "gepaskent" that they are not Charedi.
He sure takes a lot of liberties on their behalf, starting with forcefeeding them a phony "mehadrin" standard in kashrus.
You don't know who you just started up with. If it can be proved it came from your VHQ issued Blackberry, the Charedishe oylam will send a high level delegation looking for you consisting of Shiu Reichmann and Bernie Shafran.
(Asher Taub will also show up claiming to be a representative but fail to mention that no one appointed him)
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