The next time you go out for sushi or fish in Los Angeles, don’t bother ordering halibut. According to a recent article published by ScienceBlog, the chances are it’s not halibut at all.
A new study from researchers at UCLA and Loyola Marymount University checked the DNA of fish ordered at 26 Los Angeles sushi restaurants from 2012 through 2015 and found that 47 percent of sushi was mislabeled. The good news is that sushi represented as tuna was almost always tuna. Salmon was mislabeled about one in 10 times. A one-year sampling of high-end grocery stores found similar mislabeling rates, suggesting the bait-and-switch may occur earlier in the supply chain than the point of sale to consumers.
“Half of what we’re buying isn’t what we think it is,” said Paul Barber, a UCLA professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and senior author of the study that appeared in the journal Conservation Biology. “Fish fraud could be accidental, though it’s hard to know where in the supply chain it begins. I suspected we would find some mislabeling, but I didn’t think it would be as high as what we found in some species.”
It’s not just a question of being miffed about the right salmon or fish on your plate — the fraud introduces unnecessary health risks, and interferes with consumers’ buying decisions.
“If we don’t have accurate information on what we’re buying, we can’t make informed choices,” Barber said. “The amount of mislabeling is so high and consistent, one has to think that even the restaurants are being duped.”
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