Are all fish created equal?
Next time you’re at the supermarket or restaurant and you think to yourself “I’m going to eat healthier today and pass up on the steak and order an omega-3 rich fish,” you may not be getting the fish you ordered.
That’s what a new report from Oceana, in Washington, D.C reveals.
According to one article covering this news:
“Citing DNA tests of 1,000 fish filet samples from dozens of U.S. cities over the past four years, the report said that only 50 percent of the fish tested were the species listed on the label.”
Perhaps just as bad: “Packaging and processing may also underestimate the amount of breading and ice in frozen fish products.”
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/05/30/2242128/fish-often-mislabeled-as-wild.html
My-Omega-3′s Comments:
Westerners don’t eat enough healthy fish, and now here we find out that on those rare occasions where we try to do the right thing, we’re getting ripped off!
The FDA offers a commonsense warning here: if a fish seems too cheap for its type, you might not be getting what you paid for.
That makes sense, of course: do you really think they are going to substitute a more expensive, healthier fish for a cheaper species and undercharge you for it?
Unfortunately, tilapia is one of the fish often used as a substitute, and this species contains almost no beneficial omega-3 essential fatty acids.
Worse, people who think they may not be getting as many carbs as they hope by relying on the product labels may be getting a lot more. Our suggestion is stop relying on taste: don’t buy that breaded fish just because it’s easier to eat. If you think you’re only getting 5 grams of carbs from the breading, you might be getting double for all you know. It’s much better to skip the breaded fish at supermarkets entirely.
Although we try to eat as much fish as we can reasonably fit into our diets, we rely more on a high quality omega-3 rich fish oil supplement daily from a product manufacturer we can trust to to ensure we get what we want.
Even with fish oil supplement brands, there’s most likely problems with omega-3 amounts overstated and other issues. This is why it’s important, at least in our view, you really do your due diligence on the company you fork over your hard earned money to. Don’t just look at the product label.
Read about their product, how it’s made, ask questions if you have to. Fish freshness, for example, is a huge issue when it come to both eating fish and using fish oil supplements, but is hardly addressed.
This story also reminds us of another issue: eggs, another omega-3 rich food. Most restaurants serve non-healthy eggs from a carton — they are not real eggs, in other words, and have a whole bunch of other nasty stuff in the carton, such as preservatives, that you don’t want in your body.
So when you think you’re ordering that healthy omelette, it’s not as healthy as you think! The only way to get around this is to order “cracked” eggs….meaning specifically asking for “real” eggs, not eggs out of the carton. Even here, it’s hard to know if you are getting the real thing, so when we dine out for breakfast, we usually ask for our eggs sunny side, as that can’t be faked from a carton.
Unfortunately, it’s harder to tell with healthy fish — or fish you think is healthy. Nowadays, for example, inks and dyes are used to give the fish a “healthy” pink appearance. So you might think you’re ordering salmon at a restaurant, a usually omega-3 rich fish, and in reality perhaps you’re getting some species that contains no omega-3, just injected with pink dye so it ends up looking like salmon, and by the time it’s cooked, you can’t tell the difference.
Not only are you getting ripped off financially, but more importantly, you aren’t getting the health benefits you thought you were.
Should you and your family be taking fish oil?