Wednesday, February 14, 2007

Madeira Beach, Florida: It ain't just Mexico, folks.


Readers, especially those who either haven't been around long or who haven't had time to browse my archives, may think that I think that corruption, hanky de pankies, hornswoggling, flim-flamming and cork-screwing are limited to Mexico -- and Venezuela -- and Cuber -- and Bolivia. It just ain't so.

When was the last time you sat down in a US restaurant, especially a Florida restaurant, to a dinner of "fresh Gulf grouper"? Chances are it wasn't grouper at all. This article lays out how diners, restaurants and even multi-million dollar seafood distributors are being defrauded by mislabled fish -- fish filets labeled as Gulf grouper but actually something else. And sometimes that something else is laden with salmonella and carcinogenic fungicides. And sometimes that something else cannot even be identified by laboratories and fish scientists (ichthyologists).

Asian farm-raised catfish, emperor fish, painted sweetlips (what the hell is that?), tilapia and green weakfish (or weak greenfish, I'm not too sure) were fish species identified from samples served at Florida restaurants, all of which thought they were serving Gulf grouper.

So as to avoid confusion in the future as well as fishy fraud, I'll show you what all these fish look like before being fileted.


Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican art and crafts, http://palehorsegalleries.vstore.ca/, Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/, A Gulf Grouper, highly prized delicacy but being counterfeited by unscrupulous fish importers.
Gulf Grouper - the real thing


Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican art and crafts, http://palehorsegalleries.vstore.ca/, Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/, A Painted Sweetlips, being illegally substituted for Gulf Grouper by unscrupulous fish importers.
Painted Sweetlips - I think


Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican art and crafts, http://palehorsegalleries.vstore.ca/, Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/, An Emperor Fish, being illegally substituted for Gulf Grouper by unscrupulous fish importers.
Emperor fish - sometimes swim with grouper



Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican art and crafts, http://palehorsegalleries.vstore.ca/, Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/, A Tilapia, being illegally substituted for Gulf Grouper by unscrupulous fish importers.
Tilapia


Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican art and crafts, http://palehorsegalleries.vstore.ca/, Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/, A Weakfish, being illegally substituted for Gulf Grouper by unscrupulous fish importers.
Self explanatory


Pale Horse Galleries for gifts, collectibles, Mexican art and crafts, http://palehorsegalleries.vstore.ca/, Mark in Mexico, http://markinmexico.blogspot.com/, Farm raised Asian catfish, being illegally substituted for Gulf Grouper by unscrupulous fish importers.
Cheap-ass Asian catfish



Please visit the Pale Horse Galleries online store
for art, gifts and collectibles -- all hand made
by Mexican indigenous artists.
Thanks!

Cross posted at Pale Horse Galleries

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