At McDonald's they specifically market it as "the fish" in a non specific way.
In a fine dining establishment they do actually market it as a particular type of fish. And particular types of fish do typically have different attributes (Heavy metal content or fat and oil content, parasite risks).
If I sold you an "i7 with 16gig of ram" but when you opened the computer up it was actually a pentium 4 with 2 gig, you'd be really pissed. If I had just marketed it as "computer" you wouldn't have a basis to be angry.
Imagine if I came back to you and said "oh gee, I guess that happens, knowing what I'm selling you is tough, our records aren't so good."
I would be completely fucking negligent, at best, and more likely I would be dishonest. Particularly when I'm selling an inferior product as a superior one. You'll notice no one ever asks for escolar and gets something that is actually much better. If it happens repeatedly and endemically, it is almost certainly fraud.
They're currently making a lot of money bilking consumers with an inferior product to what they have advertised.
I guess my point is that mislabeled is too generous to the character of the industry. Mislabeled implies someone made a "mistake." "Fake fish" maybe isn't exactly semantically correct, but it is closer to the nature of crime. (Maybe we can agree on "fraudulent fish", I think I like that better.)
It should be called "mislabeled fish" then. "Fake fish" sounds like they're selling you chicken or something, which is way more terrifying for someone trying to eat fish -- not everyone cares exactly what the species is so long as it's fish, but they'd freak out it wasn't even some kind of fish.
Take note of [1]:
> Escolar is considered by the FDA and most fish experts to be Tuna
>not everyone cares exactly what the species is so long as it's fish, but they'd freak out it wasn't even some kind of fish.
I would say that is about 100% wrong.
I don't order "the fish" in any restaurant. I order what's on the menu, and if the menu says it's snapper, I expect snapper. If it's not snapper, change your menu.
Wouldn't you object to my restaurant serving you Angus beef when you actually ordered the Wagyu?
> I would say that is about 100% wrong. I don't order "the fish" in any restaurant.
You aren't everyone. And people generally try not to be sarcastic when ordering, either. Ordering "the fish" in a seafood restaurant would be obviously sarcastic. In another kind of restaurant, it isn't necessarily.
> Dive into our wild-caught fish sandwich! Sourced from sustainable fisheries, topped with melty American cheese and creamy tartar sauce, and served on a soft, steamed bun.
What kind of fish is it? You have no idea from just looking at the menu. But people order it anyway. Maybe you don't, but you are not everyone.
And no, this isn't the only restaurant (or "food place", or whatever you want to call it) in the world that does this.
There is a large difference between not saying what type of fish it is, and directly contradicting the truth(lying.)
McDonalds didn't lie in any of that advertising(no matter how gross the food is.)
They even had the actual type of fish in a discover-able format which the high end sushi restaurant fails to do and charges you high prices for what might be worse than what McDonalds is selling you; how would you know?
> Wouldn't you object to my restaurant serving you Angus beef when you actually ordered the Wagyu?
If I cared enough to order such a thing. But it isn't a safety issue, it's a truth in advertising issue. Hard when the truth involved is something like the distinction of champagne vs. sparkling wine.
The whole pooint of having the word "Champagne" is to distinguish the product of a particular geographical region ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Champagne_(province) ), in contrast to similar products on the ground that the value add is in the methods and traditions formed over time in that region and different in other regions.
Most people swear they notice the difference, but eh. The point still stands in our culture of valueing specific products or methodologies. There's nothing inherently hard in distinguishing productors who're in the business since several generations from the new farm (who might be of equal or superior quality) in $foreignplace who's trying to cash in on the name.
One particular example a bit tangential to the original thread: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laguiole_knife
The term is not protected so the market's been flooded with things who share nothing but the shape with the original item. Which incidentally are the gorgeous looking and utterly indestructable :)
It can be a safety issue if you order fish you thought was caught in the wild but is actually fish farmed in some far-away place to god-knows-what health standard (perhaps fed large doses of antibiotics, etc).
We need transparency or food companies will cut corners at every turn to save costs and put the publics' health at risk.
While escolar might be considered Tuna according to Wikipedia, here is a quote from the FDA's website: "FDA recommendation: Escolar should not be marketed in interstate commerce" [1] (because of the possible presense of gempylotoxin, a strong purgative oil (can cause severe diarrhea))
To me, the idea of eating something potentially mercury-toxic like tuna or swordfish when expecting something like salmon is pretty terrifying. I stay far away from those things. That seems unlikely to happen, though.
> To me, the idea of eating something potentially mercury-toxic like tuna or swordfish when expecting something like salmon is pretty terrifying.
Yes, that's why I very clearly said
> not everyone cares exactly what the species is
And was anyone substituting salmon with tuna in the first place? It's not like every wild substitution is being made. Like I said, the FDA is fine with some of them. Your viewpoint is just fine (and I'm with you honestly) but my point is that a lot of other people have others.
If you are paying for an expensive fish and are served a cheap one, you are being ripped off. Someone may not care about what kind of fish they receive, but charge them more for that and I would say almost 99% would care.
'Tuna' might not be the best word to describe these fish species served as sushi. In the original Japanese the labeling is much more explicit, where they are called 'maguro' which is less broad a category than 'tuna'. So while escolar may be 'tuna', it's definitely not 'maguro'. In fact escolar has been illegal in Japan for for decades because it's considered harmful due to its diarrhea inducing wax ester content.
Agreed, I did a double take there too. "If not fish, what have I been eating?" But no, I'm still eating fish, and it tastes like all the other fish I get at the same price, unless I pay roughly triple, in which case I get noticeably tastier (apparently of a different species) fish.
Of course, mislabeled food is not fantastic, but I've figured for a while, when I order kobe beef sliders, "Yes, bold faced lies on the menu, but if it tastes good, who cares?" Transparency and reporting can go a long way here; isn't the rest just "market price" of whatever they're calling it today?
If you couldn't tell the difference between chicken and any fish, you probably should avoid it.
You'll notice the difference between escolar/"white tuna" and albacore tuna that we normally eat is that it's a lot cheaper, is oily and it gives you explosive orange diahharea.
In a fine dining establishment they do actually market it as a particular type of fish. And particular types of fish do typically have different attributes (Heavy metal content or fat and oil content, parasite risks).
If I sold you an "i7 with 16gig of ram" but when you opened the computer up it was actually a pentium 4 with 2 gig, you'd be really pissed. If I had just marketed it as "computer" you wouldn't have a basis to be angry.
Imagine if I came back to you and said "oh gee, I guess that happens, knowing what I'm selling you is tough, our records aren't so good."
I would be completely fucking negligent, at best, and more likely I would be dishonest. Particularly when I'm selling an inferior product as a superior one. You'll notice no one ever asks for escolar and gets something that is actually much better. If it happens repeatedly and endemically, it is almost certainly fraud.
They're currently making a lot of money bilking consumers with an inferior product to what they have advertised.
I guess my point is that mislabeled is too generous to the character of the industry. Mislabeled implies someone made a "mistake." "Fake fish" maybe isn't exactly semantically correct, but it is closer to the nature of crime. (Maybe we can agree on "fraudulent fish", I think I like that better.)