According to the Huffington Post: Oceana, an advocacy organization devoted to “protecting the world’s oceans,” and the latest to test fish samples, would have us believe that the fish mislabeling problem is dire, dire, dire…
“As our results demonstrate, a high level of mislabeling nationwide indicates that seafood fraud harms not only the consumer’s pocket book, but also every honest vendor or fisherman along the supply chain. These fraudulent practices also carry potentially serious concerns for the health of consumers, and for the health of our oceans and vulnerable fish populations.”
This Is An Excerpt of Oceana’s Report: From 2010 to 2012, Oceana conducted one of the largest seafood fraud investigations in the world to date, collecting more than 1,200 seafood samples from 674 retail outlets in 21 states to determine if they were honestly labeled. DNA testing found that one-third (33 percent) of the 1,215 samples analyzed nationwide were mislabeled, according to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines…. Seafood substitutions included species carrying health advisories (e.g. king mackerel sold as grouper; escolar sold as white tuna), cheaper farmed fish sold as wild (e.g. tilapia sold as red snapper), and overfished, imperiled or vulnerable species sold as more sustainable catch (e.g. Atlantic halibut sold as Pacific halibut). Our testing also turned up species not included among the more than 1,700 seafood species the federal government recognizes as sold or likely to be sold in the U.S.
Huff Post cont… The first problem with the report is the standard it uses to determine mislabeling. The FDA’s list isn’t law, it’s a set of “non-binding regulations” that lists the “acceptable market name” of each fish species. Of the 401 “mislabeled” samples, 78 were from two kinds of fish sold under names that, while unrecognized by the FDA, are well-understood vernacular: escolar sold as “white tuna” and Japanese amberjack sold as “yellowtail.” Even Oceana acknowledges that selling Japanese amberjack as “yellowtail” doesn’t constitute fraud, as Japanese amberjack is yellowtail to everyone but the FDA.
All I’m saying is that McDonald’s has been serving Millions and Billions diseased, manufactured, alcohol treated fish for years – see my previous blog on pink chicken – in the form of Chicken McNuggets… https://museumofuncutfunk.com/2012/01/24/the-funky-chicken-it-aint-just-a-dance/ That being said, what in the world would make any one believe they’re going to now serve you quality fish in the form of a “McBite.” Especially when the entire fish gaming industry is in question. It’s clear to me that Micky D’s has got a new angle on more fish remains that it can handle; made nuggets out of; fried it; froze it; and is now shipping it to a golden arches near you; and apparently has an endless supply of it, so it’ll keep coming to your local fast food bistro. You can enjoy, Fish McBite’s is one “food” item I’ll have to take a pass on.
For the Love of Fish that’s not Funky
c-dub
