{"id":3463,"date":"2008-09-08T15:59:53","date_gmt":"2008-09-08T21:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress-367309-1145705.cloudwaysapps.com\/?p=3463"},"modified":"2017-08-02T15:11:58","modified_gmt":"2017-08-02T19:11:58","slug":"environmental-defense-fund-fish-fraud-how-to-spot-it-at-a-restaurant-or-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sustainablog.org\/articles\/environmental-defense-fund-fish-fraud-how-to-spot-it-at-a-restaurant-or-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental Defense Fund: Fish Fraud – How to Spot It at a Restaurant or Market"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>This post is by Environmental Defense Fund scientist Tim Fitzgerald<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

The recent The New York Times<\/em> story about two high school students who did DNA testing on fish<\/a> shines a light once again on one of the seafood industry’s dirty little secrets — fish fraud. They found that one fourth of 60 samples of seafood taken in New York City restaurants and seafood markets were mislabeled.<\/p>\n

But with lax FDA regulations and virtually no enforcement, the practice is more common than one would hope. In recent years, there have been numerous reports of fraud<\/a> occurring around the country. Three years ago, a Times investigation also found that fish sold as wild Alaskan salmon<\/a> by high-end New York City markets was mostly cheaper farm-raised salmon<\/a>, selling for as much as $29 a pound. (See my previous post Plenty of Safe, Eco-Friendly Fish in the Sea<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The U.S. Food Drug and Drug Administration, which oversees the safety of our seafood supply, defines fraud as the substitution of a less expensive fish for a more expensive kind<\/a>, for example, tilapia<\/a> for red snapper<\/a>, farmed salmon<\/a> for wild from Alaska<\/a>, or basa or tra (Vietnamese catfish<\/a>) for grouper<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Checklist: How to spot fish fraud<\/h3>\n

Being informed and knowing your seafood is the best way to arm yourself against fraud. Some things that should raise red flags are:
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