Slashdot Mirror
Battling Fish Fraud With DNA Testing
itwbennett writes "High demand, high prices, and nearly identical cheaper alternatives is a recipe for fraud. Eel fraud, that is. This has led Japanese researchers to develop a method to cheaply and quickly batch-test DNA by taking small tissue samples from thousands of eels. 'If a non-local eel is found in a batch, more tests will be performed to find the guilty foreigner.'"
Here in America, we import loads of cheap food from China. It has lead TWICE to dog food recalls. We now have loads of illegal pesticides being found in our juices due to illegal imports. We continue to ignore what is going on as republicans have a massive hold on America. But good to see that the rest of the west cares about their citizens.
This seems to be a growing problem in both fish markets and sushi shops. Shops are trying to sell off one type of fish as another that looks and tastes similiar. Other issues come from labeling as wild caught vs farm raised.
Take salmon for example. Wild caught will stay pink as it cooks where farm raised will not. But they look the same when raw.
BJs had an article in their last ad thing about how they DNA test all of their fish to verify that its the right species, etc, etc. I assume it's similar to this.
"My hovercraft is full of eels."
"DNA testing proves you're lying."
(being led away in handcuffs) "It's a fair cop."
Ezekiel 23:20
Seems like an eel-conceived idea to me.
HOT TUNA!
In Development: A fish-testing card (think those date rape coasters) that will tell you if your fish is legit. YAY!
I have the hiccups.
This sounds a lot like fraud in the wine business, where a relatively cheap wine is relabeled as an expensive wine.
Both in the fish market, and in the wine market, taste tests show that consumers generally can't tell the difference. If consumers were smart, they would have chosen the cheaper product in the first place. However, consumers are often more concerned about the image of the product than the product itself, so they buy the effectively identical more expensive product.
Yes, the fraud is wrong, but I can't say I feel that horrible about it, as the consumer is still effectively getting what they pay for--something expensive that tastes just like something cheap. Perhaps the resources would be better spent worrying about crimes with real victims.
If the cheaper version is nearly identical then what warrants the high price to begin with?
This sounds like the testing process the mythbusters used to test hundreds of soda cans for rat pee. They combined many samples together rather than individually testing each can.
So what makes this novel?
"That's a haddock you are eating sir"
"I know my fish! It's a cod, not a haddock!"
"No sir I assure you it's a haddock"
"Well, I'm not convinced. Have my plate taken back the kitchen. I want it DNA tested...."
As usual, slashdot misses the point. Fishermen aren't able to selectively catch one kind of fish, they trawl with huge nets and get all sorts of things. By law they have limits on what they can bring back, so the fish that they aren't allowed to take are dumped back into the ocean. Unfortunately they're also already dead, having been caught at depth and brought up into the air. If instead of just dumping them back into the ocean, what harm is it if they brought them to market instead? If fishermen can't sell these fish for what they are and instead have to market them as something else, who cares? Net / net, we all have to eat something.
I am a sushi chef at a restaurant in seattle.
This testing is just one of many reasons why the price of eel has risen from 200$ a case to nearly 400$ in just the past 18 months.
I see a few comments here regarding the taste of farm raised vs wild caught eel here and I can safely say that the taste of eel has almost nothing to do with farm vs wild. It has EVERYTHING to do with how the companies broil the eel and what kind of sauce they use. The real difference is seen in restaurants that get their eel uncooked and broil it themselves in their own sauce instead of using fish cooked on an industrial scale. Just thought I'd straighten that out.
Also FYI, fewer than 2% of sushi restaurants in america broil their own eel. If you're paying less than 10$ per nigiri order you're eating prepackaged / broiled / frozen eel the same as your local safeway sushi joint is using.
The price of eel has gone up drastically in the past 18 months (from 200$ a case to almost 400$) I'm a sushi chef at a restaurant in seattle so for once slashdot has a story relevant to my work (somewhat.) While I'm sure this testing has contributed to the rise in price the real reason behind this is the unsustainability of current farm raising methods (eg, dig a hole in the ground, throw the fry in, raise them, dig another hole etc) it just keeps getting more expensive to find new land to dig new holes to grow them in not to mention they're catching less and less wild fry to raise in the holes. I've seen a few comments here about the taste of farm raised fish vs wild caust and I'd like to set the record straight on eel. (Salmon is a whole 'nother ball game that you could probably write a thesis on) Farm raised and wild eel taste the same. The misconception that wild eel tastes 'better' has nothing to do with how it grows and everything to do with how it's cooked. 98% of sushi restaurants in america all use farm raised, pre cooked, frozen eel. The difference in taste with these typically comes from the sauce the company uses to grill it in and the grilling method (grilled on a stove or roasted in an oven) if the eel looks thin / flat it was probably grilled in a skillet. If it looks thick and plump it was probably broiled. After its cooked in sauce it's packed and frozen and sent to sushi restaurants everywhere where it only needs to be heated a little bit and seared to be ready to eat. Typically when a restaurant orders wild eel they order it frrozen but uncooked. The 'better' taste simply comes from each restaurant using their own unique sauce and grilling method in house. If you were to grill the wild eel using the same industrial methods as the typical farm raised stuff it would taste exactly the same. Mostly all pre cooked frozen brands taste about the same, there are a few brands that are slightly higher in quality (I couldn't tell you which, all the packaging I see is in japanese) but they all cost about the same. You'll know if your restaurant is cooking their own eel because you'll be paying about $5-7 per piece of nigiri vs. The average 3.00 per piece for farm raised. (Your prices may vary depending on your location in the US)