DNA Tests of Fish Served In LA and OC Finds Rampant Mislabeling

Categories: News
sushi_plate2.jpg
That snapper you just ate? Chances are it wasn't snapper. According to a study just released by the non-profit advocacy group Oceana, in 34 samples they tested from sushi bars, restaurants, and markets in LA and OC, none of them were actually snapper. 

"Consumers buying fish labeled as 'red snapper' or any other type of snapper in Southern California could receive anything from tilapia to pollock, in addition to any one of the overfished or vulnerable rockfish species," the group said.

The report also noted that 89% of the time escolar, a species known to have laxative effects, passed for white tuna in sushi restaurants.

The Los Angeles Times had this video.

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4 comments
909Jeff
909Jeff

White tuna?  So you mean Albacore? 

Nope
Nope

White tuna is definitely not albacore.

909Jeff
909Jeff

White tuna is a term that may apply to two different species eaten in Japanese cuisine :

Albacore tuna, Thunnus alalunga - the pale-fleshed tuna favoured by the canning industry, also known as shiro maguro, bin-naga maguro, or bincho maguro

Escolar, Lepidocybium flavobrunneum - which is a snake mackerel, not a tuna. It has been banned in some countries, including Japan, because of the laxative effect of the wax esters in its flesh.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W...

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