Four Plymouth Restaurants Part of Seafood Mislabeling Investigation

If you think that going to a seafood restaurant on the docks means that the fish you eat was caught just outside your window, think again.

With advances in freezing technology and transportation could mean that that wild-caught striped bass you thought you ate could actually be a farm-raised fish shipped from Asia. Or the traditional label of "scrod" referring to haddock caught in Cape Cod Bay, is often not fresh haddock, but frozen Pacific cod from Alaska, according to an investigation by the Boston Globe. The investigation by two Globe reporters helped by a DNA laboratory in Canada found that 48 percent of fish sampled in the survey were misidentified of the 183 fish samples collected. That includes four samples from three Plymouth restaurants: East Bay Grille, , and . A fourth restaurant, correctly labeled Atlantic cod.

owned up to the mistake according to the report. A manager there admitted to switching the scrod, or haddock, in the Baked Native Scrod dish "fresh Chatham day boat" to frozen Pacific cod.

General manager Erik Daigle said the restaurant made the switch over the summer because of high prices for local fish but had not updated the menu. A recently revised menu eliminates the words “native’’ and “Chatham,’’ but still describes the previously frozen Pacific cod as “fresh day boat scrod.’’--Boston Globe

Health and safety are major concerns for the correct identification of seafood. One popular substitute, escolar, is often labeled as white tuna on menus, particularly at sushi restaurants. Escolar, an oily white fish from Asia, can cause severe gastrointestinal problems because of the type of oil. It's often known as "ex-lax fish."

But escolar is not part of the tuna family and should not be sold with that label, according to the FDA’s online database of acceptable market names for seafood. Moreover, the agency advises against the sale of escolar in the United States because of its potential health risks. Some chefs and food bloggers have suggested that people are most likely to get sick after eating 4 ounces or more, but there have been reports of diners becoming ill after consuming smaller portions.

In Plymouth, both New Tokyo and Sushi Joy served escolar as "white tuna." The New Tokyo manager told the Globe that its supplier labeled the fish, while Sushi Joy did not return phone calls.

New Tokyo also mislabeled tilapia, an inexpensive farm-raised species from Asia, as red snapper, a popular wild-caught but over-fished species. In that case, New Tokyo reported that the fish was ordered correctly from the supplier.

While tilapia is perfectly safe, it's bland flavor does not taste anything like red snapper, but on a plate or ordered as frozen fillets, it's hard for even chefs to tell the difference.

Massachusetts has the fourth busiest seafood industry in the U.S. (Alaska is the largest), from fishing boats to processing plants. Plymouth isn't high on the local list, but it's small fishing fleet still sells its fresh catch to local restaurants and processing plants. The custom of fish markets getting in whole fish and carving them up for sale has long since disappeared except in a few cases. , which proudly claims to be one of the few that do so, was not tested in the investigation.

Merchant Name

What was ordered?

DNA result

Merchant response

Substituted species is ...

Type of Seller

Blue-Eyed Crab Grill & Raw Bar

Atlantic cod

Atlantic cod

Restaurant

East Bay Grille

Scrod (haddock)

Pacific cod

Confirmed switch to Pacific Cod, menu not updated

frozen, not local, and a cheaper species

Restaurant

New Tokyo

White tuna

Escolar

Supplier labeled it white tuna

a cause of severe gastrointestinal problems

Restaurant

New Tokyo

Red snapper

Tilapia

Ordered correctly from supplier

a cheaper, farmed species, not wild

Restaurant

Sushi Joy

White tuna

Escolar

Did not return calls

a cause of severe gastrointestinal problems

Restaurant

Graph from Boston.com