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Did You Know?

Did You Know?FDA States that "White Roughy" not Acceptable Market Name for Basa. NFI received a letter from FDA this past week clarifying the agency's policy for the use of the term "white roughy" for basa fish.

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Did You Know?

basa fish and roughy

White Roughy is not an acceptable Market Name for Basa

In a letter to NFI, FDA clarified the agency’s policy for the use of the term “white roughy” for basa. FDA believes that marketing basa or any other fish in the Pangasiidae family as “white roughy” is misleading to the consumer. Fish known as “roughies” such as “orange roughy” are classified differently from Basa and command a higher value in the marketplace. Misleading fish names violate the U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

Better Seafood Board Blog

Lost in all the press generated by the Boston Globe 2-part series on species substitution at Boston-area restaurants and Oceania’s report on substitution at Boston-area grocery stores is a story from another large seafood-centric city – Seattle.  The local NPR affiliate (KPLU 88.5) reports on the efforts of Washington state’s Fish and Wildlife police to look for mislabeled species at area food markets.  

Budget cuts and other assigned duties certainly don’t allow this to be a full-time duty of the WDFW, but seeking out fraud goes a long way to stopping the cheaters.  As Officer Olson states, “Quite honestly all this stuff, it's always about the money.  It's always about the bottom line.”

If you want a “do-it-yourself” guide to finding cheaters, check out this fascinating link.  Professor Erica Cline with the University of Washington-Tacoma has a “Catching Cheaters Salmon Market Substitution Project”, complete with instructor and student’s lab manuals.  Now that's a useful science project.

10/25/2011 - 18:40 0 Read More

KGO-TV, San Francisco’s ABC affiliate ran an excellent story about a current FDA project to supplement the global database “Fish Barcode of Life”.  Pairing taxonomic identifications with unique DNA sequences provides the linkage necessary for regulatory actions on misidentified species.  A positive story about FDA’s efforts to combat species substitution – no gotcha story here, just the facts.

08/30/2011 - 10:44 0 Read More

Google Alert was busy this week with media pick up of Oceana’s awareness campaign on seafood fraud, including some good coverage of the Better Seafood Board

But interspersed with these stories are some different takes on fraud in the seafood industry that hit the media waves this week.  Lest we think that all fraud takes place in the United States, the first story is from down under in Australia. 

Seafood Fraudster Pleads Guilty

A Gold Coast man pleaded guilty to 23 fraud and obtaining money by false pretenses charges of defrauding five people of a total of about $6.5 million for investing in a non-existent seafood business.

Former bookkeeper sentenced to 28 months for embezzling $2.3M from Va seafood company

A former bookkeeper for a local seafood company was sentenced Wednesday to 28 months in federal prison plus 10 months of home confinement after admitting she embezzled $2.3 million from the company to feed her gambling addiction.

 Southern California Seafood Dealer Pleads Guilty to Selling Whale Meat

A Gardena seafood dealer who imported endangered whale meat from Tokyo and sold it to sushi restaurants pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge for selling a marine mammal product for an unauthorized purpose, in violation of the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Trucker Disappears with $400,000 Worth of Crab

A truck load of 25,000 pounds of king crab disappears.  The trucking company and trucker’s documents appear to have been bogus.

06/03/2011 - 12:03 0 Read More

Welcome to the BSB Blog

You may be asking – Why a blog? Or – How does a blog fight seafood fraud? Well we certainly don’t expect this blog to single-handedly eliminate seafood fraud, but it does provide a collection point for commentary on fraud – in other words, a showcase for the good, the bad and the ugly. It is our way to pass along items of interest that help to educate and persuade the powers that be (whether they be our partners in the seafood supply chain or government agencies) that seafood fraud is very real and needs to be stopped. So check back often to see what we have to say in our fight against seafood fraud.

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