Sushi and Mislabeling

Sushi & Mislabeling

Illustration of tuna with various hangtag paper labels

Seafood mislabeling gets quite a bit of press attention from time to time. It turns out this issue is a lot more complex than people think. We have taken a leading role with Loyola Marymont University in the LA Seafood Monitoring Project, which aims to significantly reduce the incidence of confusion, mislabeling, and, at times, fraud that exists in LA sushi restaurants.

Below are details on some of the items that there is

often confusion about:

• Our Hirame is Paralichthys dentatus or Fluke from the Northeast coast of the US; it’s sometimes called Halibut in sushi restaurants in LA.

• Our NZ Sea Bream is Pagrus auratus from New Zealand. It was called NZ Snapper until June of 2018.

  Our Kampachi is Seriola rivoliana. It is also known as Longfin Amberjack or Almaco Jack.

• Our Yellowtail is Seriola quinqueradiata, or Japanese Yellowtail / Hamachi. When this fish is older and larger, it is called Buri in Japan.

• Our Salmon is Salmo salar, which is North Atlantic Scottish Salmon.

• Our Tuna can be one of many species. Typically, we feature wild-caught Thunnus obesus (Big-eye) or sustainably ranched Thunnus orientalis (Pacific Bluefin). We also use wild-caught Thunnus albacares (Yellowfin). Our Albacore is Thunnus alalunga, which is tuna, but normally referred to as Albacore or possibly white tuna.