Food is not always what it appears

[HCT]

Food is not always what it appears

Fish, olive oil, honey are most often faked

BY ELIZABETH WEISE
USA TODAY

Some of your favorite foods may be fakes.

Foods masquerading as something else -- a more nutritious something else -- have been big news the past two years. Chinese food companies in particular have been blamed for making deadly alterations to dairy, baby and pet foods by adding melamine. The chemical makes it appear that the food or beverage has the required level of protein.

But what about food producers in this country? What fraudulent foods do U.S. consumers have to fear from American companies?

Experts say dangerous U.S.-produced foods are few, but producers have been known to practice "economic adulteration" -- adding a little to their bottom line by padding, thinning or substituting something cheap for something expensive.

So in a caveat emptor world, what should consumers look out for?

Seafood: Keep an eye on that salmon

Fish is the most frequently faked food Americans buy. In the business, it's called "species adulteration" -- selling a cheaper fish such as pen-raised Atlantic salmon as wild Alaska salmon.

When Consumer Reports tested 23 supposedly wild-caught salmon fillets bought nationwide in 2005-2006, only 10 were wild salmon. The rest were farmed. In 2004, University of North Carolina scientists found that 77% of fish labeled red snapper was actually something else.

"It's really just fraud, plain and simple," says Gavin Gibbons of the National Fisheries Institute, an industry group.

Salmon is tricky. Here's a tip, though. Farmed salmon get their coloring from dyes added to food pellets the fish are fed, while wild salmon get it from the plankton they eat.

When you cook it, the wild salmon retains its color; in the aquaculture salmon, the color tends to leak out. Suspicious consumers can call the FDA's Center for Food Safety and Nutrition hotline at 888-732-3663.

Olive oil: Extra-virgin can be tricky

This luxury oil, touted for its heart-health properties and taste, has become a gourmet must-have. Americans consumed about 575 million pounds last year, according to the North American Olive Oil Association. Sixty-three percent was the higher-grade extra-virgin, which comes from the first pressing of the olives.

It's also one of the most frequently counterfeited food products, says Martin Stuts-man, the FDA's consumer safety officer for edible oils.

There are no national figures on olive-oil fakery. But after complaints, Connecticut began testing two years ago. "We were coming across a lot of products labeled as extra-virgin olive oil that contained up to 90% soybean oil," says Jerry Farrell Jr., Connecticut's commissioner of consumer protection.

Most name brands were fine, Farrell says. It was often off-brands sold in discount stores that were the problem.

Honey: Beware of beet sugar

An expensive natural product that's mostly sugar, honey is easily faked. "If you can substitute a less expensive source of sugar for the expensive one, you can save some money and gain market share," says the FDA's Stutsman.

It used to be that cane sugar or high-fructose corn syrup was mostly used to thin out honey. But chemically, that was easy to spot. The FDA used an isotope test that would easily identify the adulteration.

So counterfeiters got wily and started using beet sugar. Its profile is similar to honey, so the FDA had to switch to a much more complicated test.

Maple syrup: Vermont watchful

Maple syrup is another high-value item that can be adulterated.

The boiled-down sap of the sugar maple tree can be diluted with water or sugar by sellers "trying to get more bang for the buck," says Kristin Haas, food safety director in Vermont's Agency for Agriculture, Food and Markets.

Vanilla: Vanillin is a fake

A product of the tropics, vanilla pods can be soaked in milk or stored in sugar to impart a delicate vanilla scent to foods. More commonly, they're soaked in alcohol that is then used as a flavoring.

But vanillin (pronounced VAN-ah-lynn), a chemical copy of the richly organic vanilla flavor, was created in the laboratory in the 19th Century. When used in foods, it's supposed to be labeled as an artificial

[Kummok]

Even the local fish mongers get it wrong sometimes.....the ones that SHOULD know better. I was checking out the fish prices at New Sagaya in Anchorage, a topnotch store last summer, and the kid behind the counter told me that the shrimp were "fresh caught in Kachemak Bay". I asked how that was possible because Kachemak Bay has been closed to all shrimping for a few years now.....he then said, "I guess they're from somewhere else then." They are an honest enough store but just had some kid winging it that day I reckon..  ::)  A buyer REALLY has to know what they're looking at or go with someone you trust...  We have a furrier up here that has an appropriately wise motto, "If you don't know furs, know your furrier!"  The same could be applied to certain foods!

[Caneyscud]

Steams me up just thinking about this!  Not only is it lying, unethical, criminal, etc.... it is also dangerous.  I'm Type 2 diabetic and have friends that are type 1 diabetic.  They fear mislabeling of sugar content.  Or even a simpler problem is some of the real "brilliant" types working at restaurants, bars and fast food joints and making a simple mistake - to them a nothing, "who cares" mistake of putting regular coke in the cup rather than a diet coke.  Those big cups are enough to set a friend of mine or two into a bad situation.  And I love all those "No" or "Low-sugar" foods being sold.  I you are a diabetic, you better read the ingredients and nutritional an-alyses (only way to get this word past the filter).   Looked at a pack of "Sugar Free" cookie wafers the other day.  The ingredients did not list sugar, but lots of maltodextrin.  Sugar by any other name?  First glance the label says 19 grams of carbs - closer looks shows that there are 2 servings so it really is 38 gr of carbs for the whole 2.2 oz package.  The "normal" cookies are 33 gr of carbs per 2.1 oz package.  Accounting for the .1 oz difference in weight, the "Sugar Free" cookies have 10% more carbs that the ones with sugar.  What a crock.  Went into Trader Joe's and Whole Paycheck the other day and read some labels.  Supposedly they offer healthier choices in food and definitely some are, but even they, "the liberal-yuppie" health food stores that they are, stoop to deceptive practices.  Some products don't have sugar listed but they do have "evaporated cane juice solids" listed.  DUH, I guess they think we are too stupid to know what the definition of sugar is - evaporated cane juice solids.  I suppose they can argue that they're still abiding by truth-in-labeling laws, but yet I don't see them calling salt "evaporated sea water solids," milk "bovine mammary-gland secretions," or honey "insect spit."

Shakespeare
The Bard of Hot Aire
Threadkiller Extraordinaire'

[Kummok]

......but even they, "the liberal-yuppie" health food stores that they are, stoop to deceptive practices.  ......

D' ohhh....don't get me started down THIS path or I'm inclined to bring up things like man caused global warming and "change you can believe in"!!   :o  ;) ;) :D

[nickld]

......but even they, "the liberal-yuppie" health food stores that they are, stoop to deceptive practices.  ......

D' ohhh....don't get me started down THIS path or I'm inclined to bring up things like man caused global warming and "change you can believe in"!!   :o  ;) ;) :D

;D I'm right there with you on that one Kummok!    ;D

~Nick