In restaurants. But it’s not necessarily the owners who are at fault — suppliers are selling cheap fish as more expensive varieties.
Some of the findings present public health concerns. Thirteen types of fish, including tilapia and tilefish, were falsely identified as red snapper. Tilefish contains such high mercury levels that the federal Food and Drug Administration advises women who are pregnant or nursing and young children not to eat it.
Ninety-four percent of fish sold as white tuna was not tuna at all but in many cases a fish known as snake mackerel, or escolar, which contains a toxin that can cause severe diarrhea if more than a few ounces of meat are ingested.
“There are a lot of flummoxed people out there who are trying to buy fish carefully and trying to shop their conscience, but they can’t if this kind of fraud is happening,” said Kimberly Warner, a senior scientist at Oceana, who led the study.
If *only* we had an organization, perhaps even a Federal Agency, tasked with insuring that foods are safe and properly labeled.
And now, let us pause, and wish all TeaBaggers and GOPers a really nasty case of seafood-induced explosive diarrhea, especially FOX News personalities, on the air.
Wiccan Rule of 3: Whatever energy you put out into the universe will return three fold. Just sayin’! (Unless you want to spend Christmas on the toilet!)
A few years back in Florida there was a lot of “Grouper” fraud in restaurants. Grouper was so popular and also so over fished, no telling what was on one’s plate. A lot of the time it was an edible variety of salt water catfish.
Buyer beware! And if one can, go to the market where you can see your fish before it is filleted…..
People in Florida kept telling me, “You have to try the grouper!” So I did, and it was meh. Now I’m wondering if I even had grouper.