Thu, 15 Jul 2004

75 percent of red snapper sold in stores really some other species

This really makes me wonder about other products on grocery shelves - like, for example, "free range" chicken or "grass fed" beef. There are no genetic tests to tell a cow fed on grain in a feedlot from one pastured and finished on grass - and most consumers couldn't tell the difference by looking, either.

If they were reasonably sophisticated, they could tell the difference right away while cooking or after tasting, but if it was their first time trying a naturally raised product, and they discovered no difference due to mis-labeling, what would make them want to spend the extra money for the "good stuff" next time?

This is actually an excellent argument for buying direct - if you can visit the farm, and see the operations yourself, you can do a far better job of being certain you're getting what you're paying for.

While learning in a course how to extract, amplify and sequence the genetic material known as DNA, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate students got a big surprise. So did their marine science professors. In violation of federal law, more than 75 percent of fish tested and sold as tasty red snapper in stores in eight states were other species. How much of the mislabeling was unintentional or fraud is unknown.

(link) [Science Blog - Science News Stories]

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