This morning I recieved numerous emails from friends in Boston regarding the NPR program and article from the Boston Globe about mislabeled fish in Boston restaurants. A series of undercover tests were performed on over 183 species of fish from over 150 different restaurants in the Boston area. Over half of the fish being served at these restaurants was mislabeled! Tilapia, crimson snapper and some ocean perch was being mislabeled as red snapper. This perplexes me becasue in a fish city like Boston where people are very savvy about fish, fishing and sustainability, I would think that red snapper, being on the red list of unsustainable fish would not be something that restaurants were trying to push. Another fish that they found to be commonly mislabeled was local fresh cod or scrod (baby cod or haddock). Test revealed that chefs were using haddock, a cheaper yet equally delicious fish, or frozen Pacific cod fillets instead of local fresh codfish. It is crazy to me that people in Boston don't realize the difference between cod and haddock or cod and frozen pacific cod. Maybe they do realize the difference but don't care enough to complain. Escolar, a very oily fish responsible in some cases for causing the consumer stomach pains and ultimately diarrhea was being "mislabeled" as white tuna. I was speaking with my fish expert friend Dan Scofield and he said that this was kind of bullshit. White tuna is just another name for escolar. I think he needs to get on the NPR show and explain this side of the story. Perhaps the percentage of mislabeled fish would drop greatly if this misnomer was cleared up.
Who is to blame, the purveyors or the restaurants? Of course this is a point of major controversy.
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| Local Line-Caught Cod! |
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| Red Snapper! |
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| White Tuna! |
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