Business & Tech
That Sushi You Ordered Is Probably Mystery Meat, Study Finds
A Seal Beach restaurant and grocery store were among those listed for widespread seafood fraud found in Orange County sushi bars, restaurants and grocery stores.
A Seal Beach grocery store and restaurant were among the sushi bars, restaurants and grocery stores in nine Orange County cities cited in a study by an ocean protection and anti-fraud group that showed more than half of seafood sold in those locations was improperly labeled.
The net result is that local consumers are not likely getting the snapper they are paying for and they may be getting salmon chum when they think they are buying premium salmon.
The study, conducted by Washington D.C.-based Oceana, targeted locations in both Los Angeles and Orange County. In Orange County, outlets in Seal Beach, Newport Beach, Garden Grove, Laguna Beach, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, Mission Viejo, Dana Point and San Clemente were included.
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Snapper was by far the most mislabeled fish in the study, with 34 out of 34 samples labeled as snapper when they were actually tilapia, perch, rockfish or bream, among others. The fraudulent labeling of snapper and other fish occurred both for the purpose of passing off less expensive fish as premium fish, and for the purpose of concealing the sale of protected species, the study found.
"It is disheartening to know that consumers are not getting what they
pay for," said Beth Lowell, campaign director at Oceana. "Seafood fraud is not only ripping off consumers, but it is putting their health at risk and undermining their efforts to eat sustainably."
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In terms of venues, sushi bars were the worst offenders, with nearly 90 percent of samples found to be mislabeled. Eight of 10 sushi bars, including one in Costa Mesa, were found to have mislabeled escolar, associated with some, shall we say, unpleasant health issues, as white tuna.
Other O.C. lowlights of the study include
- A Seal Beach restaurant sold sablefish as butterfish
- A Seal Beach grocery store selling chum as sockeye salmon.
- A Newport Beach restaurant passing off catfish as wild, Atlantic or Dover sole
The names of the individual stores and restaurants were not included in the report.
- City News Service contributed to this report.
