seafood fraud

lots of misdirection in the industry and what to do about it..

snipping from the e360 digest

Seafood products sold in the U.S. are identified fraudulently as much as 25 to 70 percent of the time, with cheaper and more readily available fish often substituted for more desirable species and overfishedspecies identified as species of greater abundance, according to a new report by the nonprofit group Oceana.  The report, “Bait and Switch: How Seafood Fraud Hurts Our Oceans, Our Wallets and Our Health,” says that despite increasing concerns about the origins of fish products, consumers are typically given little information on where the fish they buy is from. And even when fish products are labeled, the report notes, the information is often misleading or fraudulent. Other recent studies using DNA tracing technologies in North America and Europe have consistently found that 20 to 25 percent of seafood products are wrongly identified. Oceana says the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and other agencies should use the latest forensic technologies to more strictly enforce labeling requirements. “Customers buying fish have a right to know what the heck it is and where it’s from,” said Michael Hirshfield, chief scientist for Oceana, “but agencies like the FDA are not taking this as seriously as they should.”

not to mention a great title for a report

Comments

[Sukie]

Maybe five years ago there was also a situation in which ones of the purposeful fakes: fish that was done up to taste like one of the crustaceans also had some crustacean in it, a move that is dangerous for some.

A few years ago it was also found that the nation of origin for fish and some other food products is at times changed in intermediate nations. The fish would be imported to those nations and then relabeled as being from them.

Both problems were addressed, but if people watch USDA and FDA recalls then they
are aware that those people have their hands full with old scams reappearing and chronic scams (like dangerous drugs in "natural" approaches to problems like weight loss) pretty constantly reappearing.

Staff numbers, especially trained staff numbers at the USDA were also repeated reduced by executive order during 6 of the Bush years so they are still rather understaffed, and "Buyer beware." applies, of course.

In addition there are some products that are barred by past Congressional actions from being well monitored for safety, effectiveness, or even having the same products that they say they contain. These include many herbal preps (which ironically are both better monitored and more used in Europe, so in attempting to help those industries by removing inspection a number of years ago they might have been hurt in the U.S.). For knowing about those and supplements I also have recommended resource among those below thought that one is not free.

Recommended:
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/News_&_Events/2008_news_releases/index.asp

http://www.fda.gov/Safety/Recalls/default.htm

http://www.consumerlab.com/index.asp

Pets:
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/newpetfoodrecalls/

Drug shortages:
http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/DrugShortages/default.htm

Non-food, non-drug recalls:
http://www.cpsc.gov/cpscpub/prerel/prerel.html

Each page has things to click open and the ones with fewer recalls (like the pet products page) list by company ones older and newer recalls.