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DNA Bar Coding Finds Mislabeled Sushi
Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that Kate Stoeckle and Louisa Strauss, who graduated this year from the Trinity School in Manhattan, took on a freelance science project to check 60 samples of seafood using a simplified genetic fingerprinting technique called DNA Bar Coding to see whether the fish New Yorkers buy is what they think they are getting, and found that one-fourth of the fish samples with identifiable DNA were mislabeled: A piece of sushi sold as the luxury treat white tuna turned out to be Mozambique tilapia, a much cheaper fish that is often raised by farming. Roe supposedly from flying fish was actually from smelt." (More below.)
"Seven of nine samples that were called red snapper were mislabeled, and they turned out to be anything from Atlantic cod to Acadian redfish, an endangered species. The project began over dinner with Stoeckle's father, a scientist and early proponent of the use of DNA bar codings. Instead of sequencing the entire genome, bar coders examine a single gene. Dr. Stoeckle said he was excited to see the technology used in a new way and compared the technique to GPS. 'The smaller and cheaper you make something,' he said, 'the more uses it has.'"
What are you going to do? Please, don't waste your research and not.. report these! I want a certified sushi organization. There's money to be made!
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Is anyone really surprised that a business is selling cheaper fish off as a more expensive one.
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So, what are the Japanese names of the fish in question?
After all, the North American "Trout" is really closer to a salmon than the European "Trout". A North American "Bass" is really just a big sunfish. People came over here and used the old fish names for critters of similar size and habits.
The "Chilean Sea Bass" was a deliberate renaming of the Patagonian Toothfish to have a more commercially desirable name.
So, all in all there are at least five different distinct families of fish that are called "bass".
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you can tell the diffrence by looking at it and touching it. (you can tell through gloves or thin plastic)
if you work with fish enough - you should be able to tell what fish you are working with by just looking at it and maybe touching it.
while i wouldn't know some exotic south specific fish - any that are found off NC i could identify quite easily - then again i used to work at a fish mart. and fished alot growing up.. so i was exposed to it.
i would expect any sushi chef worth a damn to be able to do the same for what he is serving.
and as for the diffrense between kobe beef and normal stuff you get.. again you can tell the diffrence by just touching it - if you know what your are looking for
'...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
Of course some people who have never known good sushi (east coasters) would have no idea what to expect. Maybe the people who frequent these places simply have no idea what the correct fish is supposed to taste like.
It's charming the way that West Coasters, especially Californians, imagine they have better food than other regions. Dead wrong, but charming.
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Not only that, but can't sushi also contain cooked fish? That said, when the article talks about one quarter of fish with identifiable DNA, it seems obvious that he's not taking DNA from cooked seafood or from rice.