Escolar
Or yet another reason why I don't eat at fast food places
"A look at seafood sales across the country by ocean conservation group Oceana found that roughly one third of the time, seafood sold at U.S. grocery stores, seafood markets, restaurants and sushi venues had been swapped for species that are cheaper, overfished, or risky to eat.
"Out of the 1,215 samples that were eventually tested, 401 were determined to be mislabeled."The two most mislabeled fish, according to Oceana, were snapper (for which 33 different species of fish including rockfish, perch, sea bream and tilapia were substituted) and tuna, which was mostly replaced with escolar - an often-banned snake mackerel that can cause mild to severe gastric distress to those who consume it." "Out of the 1,215 samples that were eventually tested, 401 were determined to be mislabeled." The two most mislabeled fish, according to Oceana, were snapper (for which 33 different species of fish including rockfish, perch, sea bream and tilapia were substituted) and tuna, which was mostly replaced with escolar - an often-banned snake mackerel that can cause mild to severe gastric distress to those who consume it.
Escolar is the most controversial fish that you are likely to find in your fish market. This firm, white fleshed fish has an incredibly rich flavor, often described as 'succulent', or a fattier version of swordfish. Why so rich? It turns out that Escolar's diet contains food high in wax esters. Wax esters that are really difficult for Escolar to digest. As a result, these esters build up in the fish.
And from the USDA FDA Statement on Consumption of Escolar and Oilfish: "There are naturally occurring toxins in some species that do not involve marine algae. Escolar (Scientific Name Lepidocybium flavobrunneum), and its relative Oilfish or Cocco (Scientific Name Ruvettus pretiosus) contains a strong purgative oil, that when consumed can cause diarrhea known as Gempylid Fish Poisoning or Gempylotoxism. FDA advises against the sale of the fish in intrastate/interstate commerce, and requests that seafood manufacturers/processors should inform potential buyers/sellers, etc. of the purgative effect associated with the consumption of these fish.
UPDATE: Portland did better than the national average with only 21% of the city's fish mislabeled with the exception of it's sushi restaurants which had 63% of their fish not being what they were claimed to be. Sushi restuarants were the worst offenders nation wide. Southpark's City Wok (shitywok) it now turns out, was aptly misnamed.
