Japan's menu scandal...

Japan's menu scandal leaves a bitter taste
Thousands of diners duped into paying high prices for premium ingredients at top hotels and restuarants

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/n ... ners-duped

I find it highly comparative/educational to see the reaction to this scandal in Japan, Europe (horse meat) and other parts of the world compared to similar scandals in the US.

1. Everyone knows fish dealers use dye or other substitutes to color farmed Atlantic salmon the natural pink color. No one bats an eye.

2. Multiple sources and esteemed newspapers report of VAST discrepancies in what you are ordering versus what you are being served in both supermarkets AND restaurants when it comes to seafood...no one bats an eye, no one is fired, and no one resigns. In some cases the mislabeling is reported as being 50-80% of the fish served.

3. I mean its a common joke in our country how often "scallops" are more than likely stingray fillets punched out with hole cutters.

4. The whole American "wagyu" beef bullshit.

5. And of course the best example...."pink slime" turned into burgers.

Its like Americans dont care if they get ripped off by businesses or corporations, they are all just jealous they arent the rich ones doing the ripping off. Its why my wife and I are strongly considering emigrating to the EU or Australia, where the collective good outweighs the concern for the individual bank account.

Everything you have written is news to me. I love scallops. Am I really eating this other fish when I go to a restaurant?

Everything you have written is news to me. I love scallops. Am I really eating this other fish when I go to a restaurant?

When I was a kind Sarasota we regularly watched men sit on the docks and punched "scallops" out of sharks with leather dies. They sold them to the area restaurants.

"Your eyebrows were all scrunched up. You looked confused."

"Oh, nothing. I was just looking at the scallops, or what they claim are scallops. The chances are they're flounder, cut up with a cookie cutter."

Jaws, Peter Benchley, 1974

Everything you have written is news to me. I love scallops. Am I really eating this other fish when I go to a restaurant?

Boston Globe: http://www.boston.com/business/specials/fish_testing/

Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmste ... tudy-says/

Boston Globe follow up (nothing has changed): http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/201 ... story.html

75% of fish in LA county are mislabeled: http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local ... 60901.html

The best one? 90% of ALL red snapper sold nationally is not red snapper. Unless you are buying the entire fish, with head still attached, making it easier to correctly identify the species? It probably isnt red snapper.

None of the health inspectors, grocery store owners/CEOs, restaurant owners/CEOS have been fired or forced to resign. The country collectively changed the channel and ignored the problem.

USA! USA! USA!

None of the health inspectors, grocery store owners/CEOs, restaurant owners/CEOS have been fired or forced to resign. The country collectively changed the channel and ignored the problem.

USA! USA! USA!

I bet many never saw it because they were busy watching Honey Boo Boo, Hog Catchers, Turtle Guy, Housewives with more Money than Sense, or whatever those retched shows are actually named. Or maybe watching some other informercial station that passes itself off as news. It seems no one pays any attention to anything unless it's dumber than they are, extremely neurotic or naked.

Shortly after a previous incarnation of this scandalous revelation, I recall spending the better part of a morning pot of coffee doing a little independent investigating...I perused the menus of any number of restaurants (both local and out of town) and came up with an amazing number of examples of restaurants marketing seafood that in the extreme doesn't exist as a known specie or at a minimum certainly didn't originate in the location identified...witness "Wild Caught Norwegian King Salmon" (if you don't see the issue there, you either don't know your fish or don't know your geography). Other examples as I recall were "Lake Superior Walleye"...when there hasn't been even a remotely viable commercial Walleye fishery on Lake Superior in 50 years...I lived there, I know. Then there is "Copper River Salmon"....which in reality is not a specie of salmon nor is it the identity of the river these fish spawn in. Rather it is simply a consortium of small-ish independent commercial fishermen who fish open waters of SE Alaska and British Columbia for Silver Salmon and together market their catch as "Copper River Salmon". I realize this is splitting hairs in some instances...as for example the Walleye likely came from Lake Erie (where 97% of the catch is harvested) by Canadian Commercial fishermen and in the case of Copper River Salmon they really -are- wild caught salmon from a sustainable fishery.

On a more personal front I've been "burned" twice in the past year when ordering seafood...Most recently my shrimp cocktail at a local restaurant (which was advertised as "Gulf Coast - Wild Caught" when in fact what I was served was obviously Tiger Shrimp - definitely farm raised and likely from some S.E. Asian country, both of which I avoid like the plague. The other was when I was served "Pan Seared Walleye" at a local restaurant....No idea what kind of fish it REALLY was, but it wasn't Walleye....I've caught thousands, I -know- what they look like and I know what they taste like. One that I didn't fall for recently (at an out of town restaurant) was the "fresh" seafood special. Swai - from the waters off Hawaii. Swai is actually a freshwater CATFISH farmed in the rivers of Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand...ALL places I'd love to have my seafood originate from...not.

Here's a link to a website that will get you started on your journey to discover what you're actually eating, along with an article from Forbes about how bad this trend has become.

http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larryolmste ... tudy-says/

With the exception of lobster I really don't buy seafood here in Louisville. I have, however, purchased a great deal of fresh fish at Pike place market in Seattle. Scallops always have that little muscle attached to the body of the scallop that you have to remove before you cook it. Or you can get them in the actual shell.

I bet many never saw it because they were busy watching Honey Boo Boo, Hog Catchers, Turtle Guy, Housewives with more Money than Sense, or whatever those retched shows are actually named. Or maybe watching some other informercial station that passes itself off as news. It seems no one pays any attention to anything unless it's dumber than they are, extremely neurotic or naked.

I am currently a "Homeland" fanatic so I can't say much about those other shows. Seattle came in at 18% of mislabeled seafood. Maybe it is harder to fool the public in the rich seafood region of the Northwest. My lack of attention to this switch and bait seafood is that I don't order that much seafood at restaurants and if I buy seafood, lobster , scallops, halibut and trader Joe's shrimp is the only thing I will buy. I

I bet many never saw it because they were busy watching Honey Boo Boo, Hog Catchers, Turtle Guy, Housewives with more Money than Sense, or whatever those retched shows are actually named. Or maybe watching some other informercial station that passes itself off as news. It seems no one pays any attention to anything unless it's dumber than they are, extremely neurotic or naked.

I am currently a "Homeland" fanatic so I can't say much about those other shows. Seattle came in at 18% of mislabeled seafood. Maybe it is harder to fool the public in the rich seafood region of the Northwest. My lack of attention to this switch and bait seafood is that I don't order that much seafood at restaurants and if I buy seafood, lobster , scallops, halibut and trader Joe's shrimp is the only thing I will buy. I

Please please please Madeline please don't think I was suggestions YOU were busy viewing those shows. I was referring to " the country collective" as mentioned by Doug.

Carla..no worries! I am on a serious binge with the show "Homeland". Mark and I recently switched to Direct TV and we are trying to catch up on every Homeland episodes before our 3 month Showtime free trial expires.