Up to a quarter of fish in stores and restaurants in New York City was mislabeled as a more expensive variety, according to samples collected by two U.S. teenagers and tested with modern genetic identification methods.
In the worst cases, two samples of filleted fish sold as red snapper, caught mostly off the southeast United States and in the Caribbean, were instead the endangered Acadian redfish from the North Atlantic.
“We never expected these results. People should get what they pay for,” Kate Stoeckle, 18, told Reuters of the project with Louisa Strauss, 17.
The two classmates from New York’s Trinity school collected and sent off 60 fish samples to the University of Guelph in Canada. Of 56 samples that could be identified by a four-year-old DNA identification technique, 14 were mislabeled.
In all cases, the fish was labeled as a more costly type, apparently ruling out simple chance.
Uh-huh. Why am I not surprised?
Sterling work! These young ladies are to be congratulated! (How much do you want to bet their schools’ science budgets will be cut next year?)
# 18 deowll said:
“How many people are checking to see if this food is even safe to eat much less what it is labled as?”
About seven, as far as I can tell.