Back in May and December of last year, Oceana, a Washington DC-based NGO that helps inform the public about seafood, decided to study the labels of fish — from markets to sushi bars — and found that over 50% of the seafood in Los Angeles County was mislabeled. In fact, in samples taken through L.A. and Orange Counties, 11 of 18 were labeled. And “red snapper”? 34 of 34 samples were mislabeled, commonly replaced with tilapia and pollock.
The report, in which 74 retail spaces throughout our county were analyzed, has caused Supervisor Michael Antonovich to put forth directing the Department of Public Health to work with Federal and State agencies to address seafood mislabeling in Los Angeles County. The motion was approved unanimously by the entire Board. The motion echoes legislation put forth in February by state Senator Ted W. Lieu — SB 1486 — requiring that major restaurant chains have complex seafood lables requiring species, country of origin, and whether it was farmed or caught in the wild.
“Consumers must have confidence that the fish they are buying at restaurants and grocery stores is safe and labeled correctly,” Antonovich said. Antonovich’s motion also calls for an assessment of the feasibility of Los Angeles County Public Health’s use of the FDA’s specialized laboratories for testing local samples of imported fish and a report back to the Board in 15 days on actions that are being taken.
Amongst other disturbing findings include 9 out of 10 sushi samples being mislabeled, particularly “white tuna,” where 8 out of 9 samples were actually escobar, a fish known for its laxative effects.
The list of retail spaces that were studied were not included in the report.