Seafood Scams

Have you ever ordered Seafood only to discover what you were served is not what you ordered?

Welcome to the “worldwide multi billion dollar seafood scam”.

Example: The Codfather

Rafael eventually pleaded guilty to false labeling and other charges after federal authorities charged he was operating an elaborate fish fraud. They said his vessels claimed to catch haddock or pollock when they had actually brought species to shore that are subject to stricter quotas. He then smuggled proceeds to Portugal.

Rafael’s scheme, and his combative attitude, have made him the subject of television specials, including an episode of the CNBC series “American Greed” that quotes him boasting about controlling the market in New Bedford, one of the most important U.S. fishing ports.

The episode was called “Something’s Fishy: The Codfather,” a nickname for Rafael often used by media.

www.abqjournal.com...

This is the big kind of news one can find worldwide but there are smaller, more personal issues people everywhere deal with on a daily basis buying Seafood.

Take for instance Sea Scallops…..(of course) 😎

Not all scallops sold as seafood actually come from a shellfish. The word scallop also defines a shape or design etc.
Punched out Skate Wings are a big thing in Florida and elsewhere along the Sou’east and Gulf Coasts.
If the word scallops is not preceded by another word such as Sea or Bay then you are likely getting punched skate wings or worse, much worse.
So, you’ll want to be ordering Sea scallops or Bay Scallops usually, DON’T BE FOOLED!

There is a simple test you can do to find out if you have an actual Scallop from the shellfish family of mollusks.
Scallops, the part we eat are the muscle the Mollusk uses to open and close it shells. The rest gets tossed. Huge Waste!

Scallops worldwide are shaped like marshmallows.
Turn a Scallop flat side down on your plate and gently pulled the stringy fibers that make up the muscle apart.
If those fibers run up and down from flat side to flat side it is a true Scallop.
If the muscle fibers run from side to side it’s anyones guess what you are about to eat.
Punched Out Skate Wings do not stand as tall as a Scallop when flat side down but they are larger in width.
Punched Skate Wings are usually the size of a fifty cent piece or larger but very flat and tend to be a bit on the grey side unlike true Sea Scallops.

Here is a vintage video about Sea Scallops from 1963 that has a surprising amount of information in it.
Little has changed from what you’ll see in the video.
Did you know Scallops swim? No? Watch this video and see how.

The Atlantic Pearl

m.youtube.com...



Seafood Salad: IE: Imitation Crab Meat


This “seafood” as we know it is usually made from the remains of the vast Alaskan Pollock and Arctic Cod fisheries of the Bering Sea.
As these fish are filleted by machine there is a massive amount of wasted fish left behind.
This gets formed, cooked and painted with an orange dye to make it look more like meat from King Crab legs.
It’s not Crab, even calling it imitation crab is a lie since it has virtually no taste at all. This imitation crab or seafood is widely used to make the “Seafood Salad”, that most of us have at least seen if not eaten…….YUCK!

One last bit…..for now.

Scrod

Do you know what a Scrod is?
Can you point to a picture of one?
Scrod is not a fish but a size. Scrod is the smallest fillets of one of three types of fish, Codfish, Haddock or Pollock.
Scrod Haddock, Scrod Cod or Scrod Pollock.
Know your fish, my favorite by far is Scrod Haddock.
Scrod Pollock, Pollock in general…..yeah, no!

Scrod Haddock makes the best Fish n Chips on the planet.
Mix up a heavy beer batter (use your fav) and mix in a bit of dill.
Sink the fillet in the batter and let the heaviest drip off then slowly lower it into a vat of hot oil so it doesn’t sink and stick to the bottom.
As for oil there is nothing like beef tallow or fat for frying English style Fish n Chips!
Hey, I’m from NEW England after all…

Maybe next time we can talk about Flounders and other kinds of Seafood.
After all the list of Seafood Scams is a very long one!

Know of any yourself?? Please…..Do Tell.

Cheers………..😎

a reply to: PiratesCut

YES and you can't fool me.

Lemme tell you my story. Hubs took me out to a FANCY dinner.
Really nice place and very expensive. I order king crab legs.
I don't like a lot of seafood so I always go for king crab legs. My parents have been making it
for as long as I remember. I know king crab from snow crab, from Bairdi, stone, blue, Dungeness etc.
Let's just say I know know King crab meat.

Back to the story. I order King crab. They bring it out and there is one leg that is split, it is king, the other also split.............
SNOW crab! If a person doesn't eat crab a lot they probably could not tell the difference. I knew immediately from the look, and confirmed it with the taste. I'm not one to make a fuss, but I showed my husband and we never ate there again. I vote with my money. What a scam!

It's a big issue in Canada: Canada has a seafood fraud problem

There is a family that sells fresh fish at the Sunday farmers market here. They have a fleet in Alaska. They overnight fish from Alaska to California to multiple markets. The prices are high, but the quality is good. They do sometimes carry sea scallops, but they are usually frozen, as was the case yesterday. I usually bargain with them for a better price. The scallops were over $20 a lb. I got close to $24 worth for $21. Brought them home, and vac locked, and tucked them into the freezer for a rainy.

I dont buy fake crab. Just fresh Dungeness when its in season, and Alaskan King.

I used to eat a lot of shrimp in the 80s and 90s. I dont buy much anymore, because much of it is farmed in Asia. Who knows what they feed it there.....

a reply to: JAGStorm

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Way to go!!
I’m not even getting into the bad stuff here, that I will not do. Everything I speak of is pretty much safe, pretty much.

Shall I continue?

a reply to: visitedbythem

excellent!!
Farmed fish and seafood is a subject I planned on getting into rather deeply.
Scalloping is big money here, huge!
A buddy recently made over $26k for a ten day trip.
A day out, worked eight days, A day home….crazy huh.

a reply to: visitedbythem

I dont buy much anymore, because much of it is farmed in Asia. Who knows what they feed it there.....

Farm shrimp is about the nastiest thing you can possibly eat. They literally feed the shrimp pig FECES 🐷

originally posted by: JAGStorm
Farm shrimp is about the nastiest thing you can possibly eat. They literally feed the shrimp pig FECES 🐷

They're actually fed trash fish to the point that they nearly overfished the waters around Thailand of trash fish which species actually support the food fish.


'Sushi/sashimi grade' anything is also a scam, there is no regulation addressing these designations.

a reply to: Subrosabelow

I agree with every single thing mentioned in that article except one.
Haddock is not cheaper than Cod here.
In my opinion it is a much whiter, flakier and less oily fish.

Oh yeah, they don’t eat Seal Poo either.
There is that…….🤪

Double Post……..sorry.
Sausage fingers!

a reply to: JAGStorm

Once I had my first tiger prawn I was amazed at the flavour. Put little regular shrimp to shame so hard.....and the size is nice

Call me a barbarian but I prefer the taste of Atlantic salmon to sock eye.

Its hard buying good seafood this is nothing new but it's getting worse

Ever have gel injected shrimp ... you probly have

Tilapia is goldfish and unless your paying for wild salmon the flesh is gray colored they dye it or feed the fish dye either way your not getting what you think

Chile Sea Bass is actually Patagonian Toothfish

I'm told that a lot of stuff sold as Red Snapper, isn't.

www.cnbc.com...

The most commonly mislabeled fish was snapper. Researchers found 87 percent of the snapper they purchased from stores and restaurants was improperly labeled. Among the most common substitutes for snapper: seabream, tilapia and rockfish.

a reply to: chris_stibrany

As long as it’s not from the salmon Farms of Scotland

a reply to: PiratesCut

You're not wrong, those fish are disease ridden and rotten. If people seen the grey, dead looking garbage before it's dyed they wouldn't dare put it anywhere near their mouth.

As for scallops, amazing with some bacon and a little garlic. Pure magic.

Rock cod are nice here. The poor mans lobster.

a reply to: Grenade

a reply to: Grenade

How can you tell where your salmon is from if its not on the supermarket label? It has been tasting good lol....

a reply to: chris_stibrany

First rule in buying Seafood.
Stay away from Supermarkets!!!
Worst place ever to buy Fish…..🤮
Go to a fish market!

Want details???? yeah, no………

a reply to: PiratesCut

C’mon Pirate man, give us some good stories. Tell us something that we really didn’t want to know!
Something the average fish buyer had no clue about!!

a reply to: chris_stibrany

Fish market near the sea, will be labelled as something like boat caught.

Some of the fresh fish in Morrison’s is ok as well, I believe they label them as “wild catch”.

Don’t ever buy fish which has been packed and ready sealed.

The best fish are the ones you catch yourself. I used to love catching a trout, gut, fillet and back in an underground rock oven overnight.

Melts in your mouth the next day with whatever seasoning and accompaniment you like.