Teenage DNA detectives expose US fish fraud

ABC News ^ | Aug. 24, 2008 | NEW SCIENTIST STAFF and REUTERS

[Abathar]

I have wondered quite a few times if I was eating the kind of fish advertised, many times I probably couldn't tell the difference.

[yldstrk]

Cool beans caught them red fished

[IYAS9YAS]

That a store or restaurant would try to scam me on price is one thing, what concerns me more is origin. A lot of fish these days are coming from questionable sources. Farm raised, fed waste, living in polluted waters. No thanks.

[Beagle8U]

The worst case I've seen was ocean perch labeled as lake perch. You can tell the difference by looking at it but anyone would know when they bit into it.

Ocean perch is unfit for human consumption but lake perch is the best eating you can get.

[Roccus]

PING!!!

Yet another reason I never buy fish in a store or at a restaurant.

[Red Badger]

A local mass market retailer here was sent to prison for this crime..........The State of Florida tries to keep an eye on this kinda stuff, but it’s just too prolific............

[Abathar]

I prefer walleye myself, but perch is a close second and I have never snubbed it if I get a chance to enjoy it.

[Abathar]

I can believe it. At an extra $3-4/lb a couple of hundred cases of mislabeled fish can put a lot of extra profit in someones pocket.

[Renfield]

Fish fraud is, and always has been, rampant. I well remember being in a grocery store in Elkins, WV, and seeing some fish in the meat cooler. The fish had been headed and gutted, and were packaged like steak. They were labelled “Ocean Perch”, but were obviously carp!

[Red Badger]

Ironically, they got him on Tax evasion, not the fish swapping..................

[Abathar]

Then he truly was too greedy then, and an idiot.

[Tribune7]

ping

[Califreak]

"If it weren't for those pesky kids....!"

[Vaduz]

No fish thank you mercury makes me burp.

[frithguild]

Now this is really on topic (From the article):

The findings raise questions about the management of fish stocks, under pressure from overfishing and facing new threats such as climate change. About 160 nations are meeting in Accra, Ghana, this week to discuss ways to combat global warming.

[Vaduz]

No fish thank you mercury makes me feel funny.

[Beagle8U]

For me brook trout is #1, followed by lake perch and then walleye.

[Sgt_Schultze]

Next thing they’ll tell us is the icky sounding Patagonia Toothfish has been sold as the high-priced Chilean Sea Bass.

[JimRed]

Ocean perch is unfit for human consumption...

You may have had something else labeled as ocean perch; the real thing is OK. Mild flavor, firm texture, not oily, can be seasoned various ways.

[vetvetdoug]

Mississippi has a law that makes restaurants post the origin of the fish. The penalties are severe if they are caught misrepresenting the origin of the fish. This happened when SE Asian origin catfish were being sold here in Mississippi as Mississippi farm raised catfish.