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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Nov 4, 2015 6:14:48 GMT -7
'Fake fish' fracas hits Belgium 3 November 2015 Pangasius is being sold as cod Diners in restaurants in the Belgian capital may be in for a surprise after a report found 30% of fish is being substituted with cheaper alternatives. The study, by Oceana environmental group, says more than a third of fish is being mislabelled in and around Brussels' European Union institutions. In EU canteens, where many European officials eat, 38% of fish is wrongly labelled. Oceana's executive director, Lasse Gustavsson, called it "total chaos". "The EU needs to clean up its fishy business, take responsibility and urgently improve trace-ability and labeling of seafood," he said. The investigation inspected DNA from over 280 samples in 150 restaurants in Brussels' tourist and EU areas. Overall, 31.8% of fish was mislabeled. Cheaper yellow-fin tuna is a substitute for bluefin tuna, commonly used in sushi Oceana says that in 14% of cases, cod was replaced by the less expensive pangasius, a type of catfish. Around 95% of what was labelled bluefin tuna - a sushi favorite - was in fact the cheaper yellowfin alternative. Sole was substituted 11% of the time with other flatfish. The report is the latest in a string of "food fraud" cases. A recent study for Which? found a quarter of dried oregano sold in shops in the UK and Ireland contains other ingredients. In a more drastic case, a criminal ring in China was found selling rat, fox and mink meat as mutton.
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