Dick Dasterdly

......going on.

Forget the dead donkey and horsemeat.

Just seen BBC news report stating that a lot of fish being sold in the UK, (mainly in fish-shops I believe), are not Cod and Haddock as advertised, but actually Pollock or some other type from Vietnam.

steviedeluxe

Been going off for some time now

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/fo...ps-anyone.html

I'm sure Aggy or J2 will have Spanish links to follow

One thing's for sure, as the world's population continues to increase, there will be firms trying to fool us as to actual food content.

Domino

how can it be cheaper to import fish from Vietnam ?

much of this is driven by "quotas". The EU fishing policy has proven disasterous for the fish population, forcing the throwing back of dead fish that could serve good purpose in feeding people because the quote for that fish has already been reached for the month.

Saw a US series on fishing in the NE Pacific where the fishermen were complaining they were trawling up more dead and mouldering bits and pieces than they were useable fish.

Jon-Bxl

Yes Pangasius or Tilapia (sp) and the conditions the fishermen work under are atrocious. This came up last year but died out, now with the horsemeat scare its big news.

Cod stocks are in danger and there are lots of delicious fish out there, but we need to know what we are getting and not be subject to more fraud. Enforced product labelling - something the EU should have done years ago as opposed to calculating banana curvature??

Problems include the conditions for the fishermen; the conditions the fish themselves are kept in and the lack of any controls imposed by the people = crooks that then on-sell as eg Cod. etc etc

Jon

Dick Dasterdly

Panga is not bad taste-wise, more like sole than haddock and said to come from the most polluted river in the World, while Pollock comes mostly from the Northern colder waters.

Both widely available and sold here in Spain, but neither for me compare with Cod or Haddock.

Maybe they get away with it on a Saturday night when the pubs come out, but I'm surprised if it isn't obvious to most punters.

Pocaloca

Panga tastes like all river fish to me (trout and salmon excepted), muddy and horrible. It's hard to beat lovely fresh sardines and anchovies, caught the same morning, low down the food chain so no toxic build-up, and impossible to disguise as anything else!

Fred James

I've seen Panga sold in Spain in restaurants as sole. It's probably the cheapest fish you can buy - it sells for around €4/kg as fillets. It's far too soft to be sole but our cats like it!

Pollack in the UK is usually north Atlantic Pollock often called Coley or Saithe and I don't think much of it. On the other hand you can buy frozen Alaskan Pollock which is actually a member of the cod family and that could easily be passed off as cod in a chip shop.It's also one of the most sustainable fisheries in the world.

big wheels

The only fish listed on the Tapas menu in one of our local bars is bacalao. When walking the dog late in the evening I often see the owner putting out the rubbish, last night I noticed one of the boxes was printed with................

Frozen Panga fillets

me me

I had a visitor from the UK, with her 8 year old daughter, who alomost cried when she saw the panga fillets in the supermarket.

"But they are soooo cute, it´s not fair, how can people eat those lovely bears?" she asked.

Dick Dasterdly

Bacalao is the Spanish version of Cod but for me it doesn't really compare with N.Atlantic Cod.
It's popular with Spanish families at Eastertime, though I didn't find it very pleasant at all, but maybe their cooking methods didn't help either.
Wouldn't have thought it to be anything similar to Panga which I've also tried and found slightly more pleasant.

I've seen a lot of warnings on various websites of the dangers of being poisoned by Panga from polluted waters in Vietnam, however I've also read that it's regularly used on the children's school meal menus here in Spain.

EMR

Its a totally different product, it is a salted cod re hydrated when required.
There are said to be as many recipes as there are days in the year.

jackytoo

You can tell which sell fish that isn't Cod as on the boards they just say fish and chips. Decent shops have cod and chips/haddock and chips listed separately. Reflected in the price too. A large size Cod at a local place is about £5.95 chips extra...very good Best fish and chips in Spain was Big Als in La Cala, he was a legend, even rumbled his own chips! After he sold they were rubbish.

The frozen companies are trying it on too, lots just say things like fish in bubbly batter but it's not Cod I got some for Grandson when we had him for a weekend, Birds eye Cod in Harry Ramsdens batter. When I prepared it for him the info said 58% cod. I was a bit pissed off by that so I sent an e-mail asking them what was the other 42%...They haven't replied, this thread has reminded me to get in touch again

Not much of a fish lover. Always have lots of Trout and Salmon as family does fly fishing but rarely enjoy it despite using umpteen recipes to try and disguise it I sometimes give it to the foxes. Mahi mahi in crispy Tempura batter is good and sea bass are ok. When family used to do game fishing in Spain our Spanish neighbours didn't like the fish except the Tuna!

agoreira

Lots of warnings on eating too much fish, especially high mercury levels. 80% of swordfish exceeds the legal limit for cadmium! Can't beat a good healthy med diet!
http://elpais.com/diario/2011/07/01/...03_850215.html

Dick Dasterdly

Maybe part of the other 42% is the batter itself.
I've seen similar figures on other brands of battered fish sold in the UK.

Pollock in Lidls here in Spain comes both with and without.
I only buy it without now, so I can see exactly what I'm eating, one complete piece of fish, whereas some of the ready battered products have obviously been reconstituted with God knows what.

Fred James

The Lidl Pollock is the "good" Alaskan variety.