How mislabelled foods find their way into restaurant dishes

The issue of food deception is seemingly rife in restaurants at the moment, with many organisations noticing a rise in the number of mislabeled ingredients, namely seafood. A number of tests have been carried out which have flagged up numerous occasions in which fish described as red snapper have actually been tilapia or tilefish. And while Escolar can legally be sold as oil fish, it has been posing under the guise of white tuna.

During the study, each of the 16 sushi bars tested were mislabelling fish – furthermore, 39 percent of the seafood tested in 81 supermarkets and restaurants was not all that it claimed to be. The issue of swapping ingredients for less expensive cuts or products is not original, there have been recent developments to try and limit the risk of mis-selling – organic produce for example is closely regulated by the Department of Agriculture.

A range of investigations have been carried out within the food industry to examine exactly how many restaurants and food suppliers are selling cheap items for far more than they are worth. For more than a decade, American catfish farmers and officials have been arguing with Asian importers who claim that the fish being sold is in fact a species called pangasius.

But while this problem is widespread, it is rare that individuals are penalised for such fraud. The focus, though important in terms of advertising and marketing, is in fact more serious due to health risk claims. It seems that both consumers and chefs need to be better educated about what they are eating and cooking – being aware of the harvesting dates for certain products goes some way to helping you know how accurate the labelling of your dish really is.

Although we all want to purchase cheaper food, if it comes at the price of potential fraud and health risks how much are we willing to tolerate? Many consumers are being put off by the risk of being cheated out of their money, so it would appear that this seemingly harmless scam could cost the restaurant industry far more than just the cost of ingredients.