'Consumer Reports': People 'ripped off when they buy fish'
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About 18% of the fish sampled didn't match the names on placards, labels and menus, according to a study by 'Consumer Reports'.
About 18% of the fish sampled didn't match the names on placards, labels and menus, according to a study by 'Consumer Reports'.
Consumer Reports Friday will reveal a mislabeled seafood scam that leaves millions of consumers clueless whether the fish they think they're buying is the fish they're actually getting.
The world's largest independent product-testing organization Friday will reveal that 22% of the seafood it tested at supermarkets, restaurants, fish markets, gourmet stores and big-box stores in three states was either mislabeled, incompletely labeled or misidentified by store or restaurant employees.
"Consumers are getting ripped off when they buy fish," says Kim Kleman, editor-in-chief of Consumer Reports.
This is no small matter. Americans spent $80.2 billion on seafood last year, up $5 billion from 2009. Mislabeling can be a serious health issue. Some consumers have allergies to specific types of fish, and pregnant women can end up eating fish they shouldn't — with high concentrations of mercury. Others trying to purchase more sustainable fish are being sold cheaper, unsustainable species.
The investigation, which took place in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, included 190 pieces of fresh and frozen seafood that were DNA tested by two outside labs. The findings, in the December issue of Consumer Reports, do not speculate about the reasons for the fraud. Some mislabeling snafus:
•Only four of the 14 different types of fish purchased — Chilean sea bass, coho salmon and bluefin and ahi tuna — were always identified correctly.
•Not one of the 10 lemon soles tested was lemon sole — but more common and cheaper flounder. And of 22 red snapper samples, not one was definitively red snapper, though eight couldn't be ruled out.
•Some 18% of the samples didn't match the names on placards, labels or menus. Another 4% were incompletely labeled or misidentified.
Consumers Union, the public policy division of Consumer Reports, is calling for legislation and standardized seafood labeling.
Officials at the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees food labeling, say they're aware of the problem. "It's illegal to mislabel food," spokesman Doug Karas says. The agency recently supplied six labs with DNA-testing equipment for testing to begin in 2012, he says. But, he adds, "Primarily we look at food safety," not fraud.
But, Kleman says, "I don't think we should have to choose between safety and fraud."
About 18% of the fish sampled didn't match the names on placards, labels and menus, according to a study by 'Consumer Reports'.
Consumer Reports Friday will reveal a mislabeled seafood scam that leaves millions of consumers clueless whether the fish they think they're buying is the fish they're actually getting.
The world's largest independent product-testing organization Friday will reveal that 22% of the seafood it tested at supermarkets, restaurants, fish markets, gourmet stores and big-box stores in three states was either mislabeled, incompletely labeled or misidentified by store or restaurant employees.
"Consumers are getting ripped off when they buy fish," says Kim Kleman, editor-in-chief of Consumer Reports.
This is no small matter. Americans spent $80.2 billion on seafood last year, up $5 billion from 2009. Mislabeling can be a serious health issue. Some consumers have allergies to specific types of fish, and pregnant women can end up eating fish they shouldn't — with high concentrations of mercury. Others trying to purchase more sustainable fish are being sold cheaper, unsustainable species.
The investigation, which took place in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, included 190 pieces of fresh and frozen seafood that were DNA tested by two outside labs. The findings, in the December issue of Consumer Reports, do not speculate about the reasons for the fraud. Some mislabeling snafus:
•Only four of the 14 different types of fish purchased — Chilean sea bass, coho salmon and bluefin and ahi tuna — were always identified correctly.
•Not one of the 10 lemon soles tested was lemon sole — but more common and cheaper flounder. And of 22 red snapper samples, not one was definitively red snapper, though eight couldn't be ruled out.
•Some 18% of the samples didn't match the names on placards, labels or menus. Another 4% were incompletely labeled or misidentified.
Consumers Union, the public policy division of Consumer Reports, is calling for legislation and standardized seafood labeling.
Officials at the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees food labeling, say they're aware of the problem. "It's illegal to mislabel food," spokesman Doug Karas says. The agency recently supplied six labs with DNA-testing equipment for testing to begin in 2012, he says. But, he adds, "Primarily we look at food safety," not fraud.
But, Kleman says, "I don't think we should have to choose between safety and fraud."
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