June 25, 2009

Something's fishy

The other day I ventured to the mega-mart to get supplies for a few days of cooking. Since I love seafood, the option for a fish course is always on the table. And since becoming more aware of sustainability in seafood, thanks to Alton Brown, I have tried to become a better consumer with my seafood purchases.

Try being the operative word here.

I learned a lot about making better choices in shopping for seafood at the Smithsonian's Understanding Sustainability event. Yeah, I went to it for AB but I got so much more out of the event.

Unfortunately, I could not find the Marine Stewardship Council logo on any of the seafood at this mega-mart. So I started looking at some of the options before me, just hoping I could find an acceptable fish for a future dinner.

Then the most puzzling thing occurred. As I perused the frozen fish, I spied wild Alaskan salmon. Praise be, fish I can buy!

Back the boat up.

Checking the product's country of origin, I see this "wild Alaskan salmon" is from CHINA!

WTF?

How... how can it be called Alaskan salmon if it is from China?

Perplex, I walked away and picked up chicken.


7 comments:

THE Holly said...

Wow, that's crap. Further evidence that you should ALWAYS check your labels. I printed out the Seafood Watch guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium site and it is a huge help.

Lauren said...

That's just plain wrong.

The cartoons are cute, though. ;)

Mise En Place said...

So, so very wrong.

feasting-on-pixels (terrie) said...

I also find it very difficult to find sustainable seafood even at high-end markets like Whole (paycheck) Foods...that says a great deal about the USA with 2 coasts bordering on oceans.

Even with the good fishmonger I have...times are really tough to get good seafood.
I need to move back to France...lol...

Good post, chere Lisa...!

One SAHD Dude said...

Here's an older article that might explain the problem: http://tinyurl.com/eybjf
Hmmmm...how fresh is that salmon???

Link within the MSC site listing stores and brands offering MSC labeled items:
http://tinyurl.com/n3dq6v


"Perplexed, I walked away and picked up chicken." But that's another show...

I Twittered my peeps, or whatever you call the process, to head over here. As always, awesome content.

Mise En Place said...

Terrie, that two coast comment is similar to what one of the panelist at the Smithsonian event mentioned. He said the US has so much seafood but imports something like 90%!

It is very hard to locate good seafood here without high-end markets and fish markets.

I have learned of some local rainbow trout farms. I'm checking on them soon.

Mise En Place said...

@SAHD Dude
Thanks for the shout out and the links :)

I loved your tweet on it!