Some non-kosher fish is being substituted as well.
Tue, 12/11/2012 - 12:21pm http://www.foodmanufacturing.com/news/2012/12/report-widespread-seafood-fraud-nyc?et_cid=2990013&et_rid=41384912&linkid=http%3a%2f%2fwww.foodmanufacturing.com%2fnews%2f2012%2f12%2freport-widespread-seafood-fraud-nyc
NEW YORK (Business Wire) — Oceana, the largest international advocacy group working solely to protect the world’s oceans, found 39 percent of seafood to be mislabeled in the New York City-area, according to a new report released today. DNA testing of 142 seafood samples from 81 retail outlets, including grocery stores, restaurants and sushi venues, confirmed that 56 samples were mislabeled according to United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines.
“It’s unacceptable that New York seafood lovers are being duped more than one-third of the time when purchasing certain types of fish,” said Dr. Kimberly Warner, report author and senior scientist at Oceana. “Not only are New Yorkers being cheated when buying fraudulent fish, but those wanting to choose their seafood wisely for health, religious or conservation concerns are being seriously misled.”
Oceana’s investigation in the New York City-area, including Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and other surrounding towns, targeted species with regional significance like cod as well as those that were found to be mislabeled in previous studies such as red snapper, white tuna and wild salmon.
Among the report’s key findings include:
■58 percent of the retail outlets sampled sold mislabeled fish (three in five).
■Small markets had much higher fraud (40 percent) than national chain grocery stores (12 percent).
■100 percent of the 16 sushi venues tested sold mislabeled fish.
■Tilefish, on the FDA’s do-not-eat list because of its high mercury content, was substituted for red snapper and halibut in one small market.
■94 percent of the “white tuna” was not tuna at all, but escolar, a snake mackerel that has a toxin with purgative effects for people who eat more than a small amount of the fish.
■Thirteen different types of fish were sold as “red snapper,” including tilapia, white bass, goldbanded jobfish, tilefish, porgy/seabream, ocean perch and other less valuable snappers.
“Everywhere we look, we find seafood fraud, and New York City is no exception,” said Beth Lowell, campaign director at Oceana. “Seafood fraud is a national problem that requires national attention. Traceability, tracking fish from boat to plate, will ensure that seafood is safe, legal and honestly labeled while preventing consumers from getting ripped off. ”
Oceana and others also recently uncovered shocking levels of seafood mislabeling in the Boston (48 percent), Los Angeles (55 percent) and Miami (31 percent) areas. Oceana is now urging Congress to pass the Safety in Fraud and Enforcement for Seafood (SAFE Seafood) Act, H.R. 6200, which would require full traceability for all seafood sold in the U.S. The bill, introduced this summer by Reps. Edward Markey (D-MA), Barney Frank (D-MA) and Walter Jones (R-NC), will likely be reintroduced next year and would take actions to stop seafood fraud that hurts our oceans, our wallets and our health.
To read Oceana’s new report, please visit www.oceana.org/nycfraudreport.
Oceana is the largest international advocacy group working solely to protect the world’s oceans. Oceana wins policy victories for the oceans using science-based campaigns. Since 2001, we have protected over 1.2 million square miles of ocean and innumerable sea turtles, sharks, dolphins and other sea creatures. More than 550,000 supporters have already joined Oceana. Global in scope, Oceana has offices in North, South and Central America and Europe. To learn more, please visit www.oceana.org.
8 comments:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/us/drought-and-economic-woes-vex-sheep-farmers.html
Most sheep farmers are going bankrupt. Will this affect the kashrus of lamb meat?
Are they non Kosher as well or only mislabeled to a similar Kosher fish???
Reb Yudel. Thank you for clarifying that.
Some of the substituted fish are definitely non-kosher species.
These incidents underscore the relevance of the psak of Gedolai Yisrael on the requirement of a mashgiach temidi when doing fish manufacturing. The mashgiach sees each fish when it's whole, and only allows the specific species to be packaged.
Companies that produce without a mashgiach temidi, may avail themselves of random DNA testing of the fish they receive. However these are only random samplings, and will never be 100%.
Chof K pioneered the idea 15 years ago of video cameras replacing mashgiach temidi. It may not be perfect but it's chotsh better than random samples especially with new software today that analyzes video feed.
The sad irony is that the first trial run for Chof K was at the infamous Ratner's / Lansky Lounge that Chof K were too ashamed to even admit was certified by them. That's a story for another time. OK jumped on the bandwagon which didn't have the best outcome either at Mezonos Maven.
The value of video cameras in GENERAL hashgacha situations is a separate debatable topic.
I point out, however, that with regard to FISH productions,Rav Moshe Feinstein z"l (Igros Moshe Yoreh Deah 3:8) ruled that there is a halachic requirement that a mashgiach be present to examine each fish prior to skinning.
From practical experience, I have found that the use of CCTV is a fish factory is totally meaningless, since conditions are such that the fish can't be checked using a CCTV camera. In addition, there are many areas of the factory that aren't covered by CCTV, where substitutions can take place.
It should therefore be obvious that Rav Moshe Feinstein would disqualify relying on CCTV in a fish plant.
The problem with Lansky's Lounge (never mind that it was named for the rotzayach gangster Meyer Lansky) is that it was a goyishe club with hard drinks & taaruvos of the non-food variety that just happened to have kosher food. If memory serves correct, one of the big hashgochos was also certifying off-the-record a boat circling Manhattan that had mixed dancing.
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