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Monday, July 30, 2007 Sustainability: Canadians to Market Hook-and-line-only Fish
This also appeared in today's Fish Wrap service.
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia – Nova Scotia seafood lovers will soon be able to buy fish caught solely by hook and line. "We wanted to do something different," George Cunningham, owner of Alyssa Foods, a division of Pubnico Trawlers in Lower East Pubnico, said. "They’re caught one at a time." Cunningham, a veteran fisherman and fish processor who founded Pubnico Trawlers in 1978, is bringing his first load of fish caught by hook and line to Home Grown Organic Foods in Halifax next week. Fish caught by hook and line are usually processed alongside fish caught by trawlers or draggers. Alyssa Foods is, according to the Ecology Action Centre, the first Nova Scotia fish processor that is dedicated to marketing fish caught by hook and line. Cunningham, 64, joked that the decision to market fish caught by hook and line separately was something of a retirement project, but he said there is a market for the fish, which he said are considered to be a more environmentally sensitive product because of the manner in which they are harvested. "It’s sustainable," he said, estimating that the 200 to 300 pounds of frozen Georges Bank haddock, hake, pollock and cod he is bringing to Home Grown Organics will cost about 20 per cent more than the same fish caught by trawlers or draggers and sold in grocery stores or fish markets. Geordie Ouchterlony, the owner of Home Grown Organic Foods on Allan Street, said his customers are interested in fresh or frozen fish caught by hook and line for environmental reasons and are willing to pay a premium — $6 to $7 a pound — to get it. Ouchterlony has bought hook and line catch from other processors but wasn’t able to get it on a consistent basis until he hooked up with Alyssa Foods. He said his business is based on sustainability and its values are consistent with those of the Ecology Action Centre, which has promoted a sustainable fishery for years and helped him find Mr. Cunningham. - Halifax Chronicle-Herald Food: Cook Seafood on a Plank NASHUA, N.H. – The latest installment of The Doorbell Gourmet, found at the Telegraph web site, is dominated by visually exciting recipes for two entirely different versions of grilled chicken. But as for me, the greatest revelation was the preparation of Cedar Plank Salmon.Cedar salmon involves cooking the fish directly on top of a smoking hot slice of cedar shingle inside a covered grill. The smoke from the wood gently seasons the fish as the indirect heat from the grill penetrates the flesh. It wasn’t the use of cedar that blew me away, though I loved the aroma. It has a much softer, more sensual wood fragrance than hickory or mesquite. Nor was it the simple mustard crust that was applied to the salmon before grilling. Granted, it was nearly perfect, with a balance of salt, pepper and acid that did nothing to overpower the salmon and everything to enhance it. No, the most exciting discovery was how tender and moist the fish became. Whether I cut into a medium-rare or well-done section of the tail, it melted on the tongue. Could it be that the use of the slower indirect heat, as opposed to fast and furious direct grilling, yielded better results? This sent me looking for an obscure quote from Susan Herrmann Loomis’ The Great American Seafood Cookbook (Workman, 1988). An Alaskan in the salmon industry cautioned her that “It doesn’t hurt the fish to cook it slowly, but you can ruin it if you cook it too fast.” That’s where slow cooking saves the day. The slow penetration of the heat is less likely to destroy the fibers or sap the fish of its natural juices. While we are at it, let’s improve the odds of success by basting the salmon with an aromatic butter. The modest amount of additional fat will help to keep it moist, while the seasonings will add a ton of flavor. If you balk at using butter, 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil will also work well. If you must absolutely avoid fats, substitute a few tablespoons of fat-free chicken or vegetable stock. – The Nashua (N.H.) Telegraph Sustainability: Seafood Shop Swears off Farmed Salmon PORT ALBERNI, B.C. – Trilogy Fish Store has recently announced it will no longer be buying farmed salmon from Creative Salmon Company Ltd.John Gilmour, one of the owners of Trilogy, which is located in Tofino, said, as a group, Trilogy has decided to market all sustainable seafood. He said the environmental guidelines state there should be no open net farming. Gilmour said Trilogy wants to be pro-active with seeking out alternative fish and fishing practices. “We will not buy farmed salmon until environmental concerns are resolved, that is not specific to Creative Salmon, it is for farming in general,” said Gilmour. “We are a local fish store that sells all local seafood and we hate to do this to a local company, but we want to be an all sustainable market.” Creative Salmon Company Ltd., also located in Tofino, was the only company Trilogy was buying farmed salmon from. Gilmour said their decision to stop business with Creative Salmon Company Ltd. is not personal and has nothing to do with the company specifically, but rather was a decision to stop buying farmed salmon altogether. Spencer Evans, general manager with Creative Salmon Company Ltd., who heard July 23 that Trilogy would no longer be buying fish, said the situation is unfortunate. “I’m not mad at Trilogy, it’s just very disappointing that the local community is unwilling to support Creative Salmon when Creative Salmon is so supportive of the community,” said Evans. He said because they sell so little locally they have to make their ecological footprint even bigger. “Because there are very few companies in Clayoquot Sound, Vancouver and B.C. supporting us, we are forced to ship our fish great distances, which causes us to burn a mass amount of fuel in the process.” Evans said one of the main parts of organic farming is to sell to areas close to the farm. “Groups like the David Suzuki Foundation are ruining the local markets by promoting wild salmon and demoting farmed salmon,” he said. Evans said salmon ranches and hatcheries have been giving salmon antibiotics, when necessary, and giving them the same feed as farmed fish and then releasing them into the ocean as wild for over 60 years. “I wish someone could show me a wild salmon. “Alaska is producing 1.5 billion salmon every year from ranching and hatchery programs and nobody ever talks about the ecological footprint and harm that has on wild salmon,” said Evans. Creative Salmon Company Ltd., which has been in business for 17 years, has supplied Trilogy with fish since its inception nine years ago. – The Westcoaster, Port Alberni, B.C. Restaurant Review: Deauville Inn STRATHMERE, N.J. - We can’t remember a time when the Deauville Inn didn't sit near the back bay just below the toll bridge in Strathmere. We passed it a million times in the good old days, before gas prices went haywire, when taking a ride to the shore meant following the gull south all the way to Cape May. The 100-year-old-plus hotel/restaurant hardly seems to have changed. The Deauville is open year ’round. We visited several times over the course of the summer. During a recent visit, we pulled up a window seat and looked over the menu in anticipation of a beautiful orange-gold sunset. Our silverware was wrapped in a napkin, we asked the waiter to replace it when we found a long strand of hair tucked inside. The menu held a handy printed list of specials with prices. For some reason our server delivered the house salad first, even though we had ordered appetizers. It was a basic tossed salad consisting of lettuce, grated carrot, red cabbage and cucumber with a creamy dill dressing. Clams Palermo ($9) was our first choice from the special list. Smart choice. Wedges of toasted bread were arranged around a bowl full of fresh clams in their shells, slices of spicy sausage and fried long hot peppers, all bound together by a savory red sauce. It was the kind of dish that makes you want more, although for some mere mortals it would probably be large enough to serve as an entree. A grilled shrimp antipasta appetizer ($10) was an interesting idea that didn’t work as well. The antipasta was basically steamed chilled shrimp over an assortment of vegetables with a vinaigrette. Flounder Ashley ($24) was also a daily special. Fresh fillets of fluke were served over a bed of asparagus spears with a horseradish and mascarpone sauce over all. The fish was fresh and perfectly cooked, the sauce was mild enough to make us wonder where the horseradish went, the asparagus were hard and under-cooked, making for another good idea that lost something in translation. Fans of horseradish, we would have preferred a little more of its piquant taste, and we believe that vegetables offer more taste when they are completely cooked, modern aesthetics aside. A sautéed seafood combination ($29) of tuna, shrimp, scallops, flounder, clams, and linguini arrived in a butter and white wine sauce. All of the seafood was fresh, tender and good. KISS is always the best method for seafood, and this simple entree was the best of the bunch. Our server brought around a dessert tray and while we didn’t see anyone actually served from that tray, the desserts didn’t look their best after being held at room temperature on a waiter’s stand by the fireplace. From a choice of 10 or so desserts, we tried the brownie sundae ($4.50), loaded with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Our young server was friendly, courteous, cheerful and kind. Also earnest and sincere but definitely a new hire, not quite sure of himself, forgetting to refill drinks and leaving dirty plates on our table until the very end of our meal. The dining room was pleasant, but offered little in the way of ambiance. The room is all light wood and mirrors, making a large room look even larger, with a long bar and lots of windows that look out over the patio and the deck outside. But who can fault the view? Sunsets are killer at the Deauville. Plenty of families, dating deuces and large parties of vacationers and regulars alike filled the very large dining room. They all seemed happy like they had found a place they really, really liked. The lines outside don't lie. Restaurants don't stick around for a hundred years for no reason. - PressofAtlanticCity.com <<<•>>> Tuesday, July 31, 2007 Feature: Ensuring Sustainable Fisheries ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Vegetables aren't the only things on your dinner plate that can get greener. Modern fishing practices have left 90 percent of the world's stocks depleted, according to The End of the Line: How Overfishing Is Changing the World and What We Eat by environmental journalist Charles Clover (The New Press, 2006).Besides the obvious problem of catching fish faster than they can reproduce, other species, including turtles and dolphins, often get caught in nets. For every pound of shrimp harvested, 10 pounds' worth of other species are thrown away even if they're edible, according to Conservation International. Some industrial fishing methods involve indiscriminate scraping of the sea floor, causing physical damage to habitats and species. Fish farming is an alternative but is a mixed bag: Though many aquaculture systems are wisely managed for the health of the fish population and the ecosystem, many others aren't. The problem isn't just a global one; it's also local: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation's 2006 State of the Bay report gave the ecosystem's health a grade of D. Because of overfishing and pollution, oyster and crab populations are alarmingly low, while the rockfish population, which made a comeback after being nearly depleted in the 1970s, shows signs of being threatened again. Still, you don't have to forgo fish altogether. You just have to make smart choices: Whether you're damaging the planet depends largely on where the fish comes from and how it was raised. Here, a few tips to guide you through the murky waters:
– Washington Post Food News: Wild or Farmed? CHICAGO – When shopping or going out to eat salmon, which do you look for, wild or farmed? Opinion is wildly divided on whether wild Pacific salmon is superior to farm-raised Atlantic salmon.Sustainability advocates generally favor wild fish. Advocates for farm-raised (sometimes called "artisan aquaculture") fish say there is no difference. Farm-raised salmon is fed coloring agents to mimic wild salmon's deep color; its flesh is sometimes deemed softer and its flavor milder. "We believe that a majority of aquaculture (fish farming) systems actually promote ecological destruction and further protein loss," states the Web site for sustainable table.org, an organization devoted to sustainable food production. "Research shows that wild salmon are healthier for you and the environment, and are (more) environmentally friendly than farmed salmon. "Because salmon are carnivorous, requiring fish meal in their diet, each pound of farmed salmon requires between 2 and 5 pounds of wild fish. This means a net loss of marine resources. Moreover, scientists have found evidence of dioxin and PCB contamination in the fishmeal fed to farmed salmon, raising further food-safety concerns." Salmon of the Americas, which represents salmon aquaculturists, counters on its Web site: "Ocean-farmed salmon are grown under carefully controlled conditions, with constant monitoring of growing conditions and production inputs. Every fish that's raised can be traced from the hatchery to the store where it is bought. ... Continuous testing by Salmon of the Americas and others indicates that PCB limits in ocean-farmed salmon are almost equal to those found in wild salmon ... Numerous independent research reports — including those by the Harvard School of Public Health and the National Academy of Sciences — have concluded that PCB levels in ocean-farmed salmon are not a cause for concern." "I prefer to buy wild salmon, myself," said Mike Shipp, seafood manager at a Chicago co-op. "But if we don't support the fish farmers and help them survive while they figure out how to do this better, we won't have any fish at all." Let your wallet and your conscience be your guides. Because today's fishing boats are often equipped with specialized freezing equipment, a salmon frozen the day it is caught can actually be "fresher" than a never-frozen salmon that is shipped long distances by air or truck. If the price difference is significant, frozen or "previously frozen" (in other words, thawed by the market) can sometimes be a better choice. A wild Alaskan Coho sample, frozen at sea, was the top-ranked of five varieties in a Chefs' Collaborative blind tasting (fresh Maine farm-raised Atlantic salmon was last). Some tips from Salmon of the Americas, a group that represents salmon farmers:
– Green Bay (Wisc.) Press Gazette Feature: Chesapeake Watermen Face Hard Times CHESAPEAKE BAY - In the depths of the Chesapeake Bay, where crabs were once plentiful, John Orme works the water for little reward.This is what it means to be a waterman. The veteran Mayo crabber's business has been wounded by higher fuel and bait costs. Filmy green slime, caused by poor water quality, now covers Orme's buoys and lines - a reminder of the ailing bay that is also plaguing watermen. Higher gas and bait prices, coupled with a lack of labor and restrictions that limit the watermen's working hours, are threatening Maryland's fragile crabbing industry, even as demand for the crustaceans remains high and pushes the cost of a bushel, in some places, to more than $200. "We've got to work harder now to make a living than we used to," said Bob Evans, president of the Anne Arundel County Watermen's Association, which has about 100 members. That's partly because crabbing just doesn't pay. Evans said he must make $160,000 annually to rake in a net income of $30,000 after overhead costs and fuel and bait expenses are paid. Meanwhile, the summer drought, causing warmer water temperatures, is causing crabs to migrate into the northern portion of the Chesapeake for colder water. The movement is forcing some watermen to give chase and spend more on fuel for a better catch. Lynn Fegley, a fisheries biologist for the state Department of Natural Resources, said watermen are dealing with a Chesapeake Bay far different from the one they knew 50 years ago. Restrictions on certain species such as striped bass; an overall decline in the oyster population; and underwater grasses providing shelter for crabs and fish have left the bay in "a condition that everything is just a little less available," she said. The spring weather has delayed the emergence of crabs and their growth process, giving crabbers a late start in the season, she added. Crabs don't start moving around until water is about 60 degrees, she said. Despite the challenges watermen face, watermen should still harvest 28 million pounds of crabs this year, about the same amount as 2006, said Ms. Fegley, adding that the figure is based on a survey on how many crabs are living in the bay over winter. Larry Simns, president of the Maryland Watermen's Association, said that harvest is dependent upon a successful fall crabbing season. "If we have good weather and people are still eating crabs, we'll be able to sell," he said. – Annapolis (Md.) Capital Gazette News: Oklahoma Protects its Fish from Caviar Fanciers MUSKOGEE, Okla. – Oklahoma fisheries experts are trying to stay ahead of the curve in protecting and sustaining the state’s paddlefish population as overseas demand for caviar continues to climb. Tulsa Regional Supervisor and Fisheries Biologist Brent Gordon of the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation said over-fishing and pollution crippled the beluga sturgeon population of the Caspian Sea after the collapse of the Soviet Union. As a result, caviar prices soared from about $30 per pound in the 1990s to about $250 per pound today. A mature female paddlefish will produce five to 10 pounds of processed eggs. Caviar made from processed paddlefish eggs, Gordon said, quickly became a substitute for sturgeon eggs, which have long been considered the No. 1 choice for caviar. Caviar produced from paddlefish eggs has won taste tests in Europe. Because Oklahoma is considered to have the best, self-sustained paddlefish population left in the United States — the only place in the world where paddlefish naturally occur, according to Gordon — it has become a popular place for poachers to pursue paddlefish. Because it takes eight to 10 years for a female paddlefish to attain reproductive maturity, Gordon says it is imperative the state develop a good management program to sustain a healthy population of the species. Gordon said state wildlife officials are pursuing a two-prong approach to protect the state’s paddlefish population, which is prevalent along the Grand, Neosho and Arkansas rivers and the lakes those rivers feed. Paddlefish produced by hatcheries are being stocked in Kaw, Oologah, Texoma and Hugo lakes. The first prong would include a volunteer program that would establish research stations in areas where anglers would bring paddlefish to be examined for research purposes. Wildlife officials would filet the fish and harvest the eggs from females. Anglers would get to keep the fillets, and the Wildlife Department would retain the eggs to be processed for caviar. The second prong, Gordon said, is to “put some bite into existing laws” that would discourage illegal harvesting of the species, which can be traced back to the Jurassic Period. State Sen. Earl Garrison, D-Muskogee, a co-chairman of the Tourism and Wildlife Committee, said he is ready to draft and introduce the legislation Gordon says is necessary to aggressively manage the paddlefish population. According to the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, an estimated 65,000 paddlefish can be found in the eastern two-thirds of the state. Adult paddlefish can range from 50 to 120 pounds. Shane McCleary of Blackwell caught the state record paddlefish April 1 below Kaw dam. The fish weighed 121.2 pounds. – Muskogee Phoenix <<<•>>> Wednesday, August 1, 2007 News: Price of White Fish to Rise LONDON – British seafood giant Young's has warned of serious inflationary pressures in the industry this year due to quota cuts and other factors.And it says that the public and the trade will have to get used to paying more for Britain's favorite fish - cod. The Foodservice Division in its latest market report said Iceland's decision to reduce its cod quota by 32 percent was a clear indication of the state of the Atlantic fishery. The reports says: "Add to this the European Union instructing Polish fishermen not to fish the Baltic to combat over fishing, you can understand that if the current level of demand for cod continues - the past 12 months cost increases have had no effect so far - we can’t imagine how high prices will go. "The strength of sterling is holding back the pressure on fuel in the UK, as oil prices head upwards, but there is still major inflation on ingredients and packaging. Potato, cereal and root vegetable crops will have taken a heavy beating in the current poor weather across Europe, so we can expect shortages and higher pricing." Young's says that "out of home eating" - the restaurant trade - had been flat for sometime. The trade was now hoping that the smoking ban would entice more people into pubs and restaurants. The report adds: "I’m sure this will be the case, but as interest rate rises continue to eat into disposable income, you have to ponder how strong this improvement will be." – Fish Update.com Restaurant Review: Tutto Il Giorno SAG HARBOR – Tutto Il Giorno in Sag Harbor, which opened in late May, is this summer’s hottest new Hamptons restaurant. The restaurant is owned by Steven T. Florio, the former chief executive of Condé Nast, his wife, Marianne, and their partners, Maria and Larry Baum.The consulting-opening chef is Scott Conant, who put L’Impero and Alto, both in Manhattan, on the culinary map. (His latest cookbook is for sale at Tutto Il Giorno, but I did not see him in the small open kitchen on either of my visits.) Italian restaurateurs will usually go to great lengths to please their customers. Tutto Il Giorno is an exception. It is the least accommodating restaurant I’ve ever visited. When we questioned its no-reservations policy, the hostess replied, “It would be impossible for a restaurant this small to take reservations.” The kitchen was equally rigid. A request for ketchup for the French fries was met with: “We don’t have ketchup.” Many Italian restaurants would have sent a busboy to the nearest grocery to get some. The Tutto Il Giorno busboys were not overworked. The breadbasket on our table was perpetually empty. There was no silver when desserts arrived, and runners delivering dishes hadn’t a clue as to who ordered them. Still, there were things to like. Most of the food was very good. Our waiter and the bartenders (whom we got to know quite well) were exceptionally nice, and the restaurant was lovely to look at. It is set in a small cottage opposite a waterfront park. Patrons sitting at the bar face windows with a view of the boats on Peconic Bay. The appetizer that stole the show was branzino tartare: a vibrant mix of minced raw fish, avocado, sea salt and olive oil. Equally delicious was a bowl of creamy polenta under a truffled mushroom fricassee. Two salads scored: a simple combination of heirloom tomatoes and creamy, fresh burrata cheese, and a toss of organic greens with marinated vegetables like cucumbers and beets. Skip the fritto misto, a lackluster assembly of fried seafood and zucchini, with limp calamari taking a leading role. The pasta to try is fresh linguine with imported porcini mushrooms. Seafood calamarata translated to fettuccine with only nubbins of shrimp, mussels and clams, not the seafood feast we had hoped for. The meat sauce on the tagliatelle bolognese was dry. The small pasta portions caused comment at our table. In Italy, pasta is often served as a separate course between appetizer and entree, but American diners paying up to $28 a bowl expect a main-course-size portion, not a prelude. Soft-shell crabs are the top entree; two crisp ones are served on grilled ciabatta bread with mashed avocado, slices of ripe tomato, spicy mayonnaise and baby arugula. We also liked the roasted black bass, which was very lightly cooked. The grilled rib-eye was succulent but gray rather than medium rare. Stewed Manila clams were not the tiny thumbnail size we expected but were tender nevertheless. Desserts tasted better than they read. The olive oil cake was a moist marvel, with mascarpone sandwiched between two slices of cake and everything covered with a citrus salad, which had soaked into the cake. Also splendid was the very crisp sesame cannoli filled with an orange mascarpone mousse and surrounded by balsamic-marinated berries. – New York Times Feature: Product Quality Life or Death Issue-Literally BEIJING -- Turning a blind eye to product quality can be dangerous to your health.In June, the former head of China's food and drug agency became the ultimate object lesson: Zheng Xiaoyu, who ran the Chinese equivalent of the Food and Drug Administration for seven years, was executed for taking bribes and "dereliction of duty." Chinese prosecutors maintained that under his watch a host of people in Panama died from cough medicine laced with toxins of Chinese origin, and more than a dozen babies in China perished from milk powder with no nutritional value. His demise is yet another bombshell for global outsourcing. The risk to Americans doesn't just come from goods imported from China. Fifty-six percent of China's outsourcing came from orders placed by Japanese and Korean firms. Many of these products end up as components or finished goods sold in the U.S. What happens in China matters to managers worldwide. Writing in The New York Times, David Leonhardt zeroed in on lead paint found in the popular "Thomas the Tank Engine" toy trains. A British company, HIT Entertainment, owns the brand and licenses it leases to a toy company in Shenzhen, China. Leonhardt reported how HIT is trying to distance itself from the slipup, saying it's the Chinese manufacturer's problem. HIT is conducting a recall. The enormity of outsourcing in places like Shenzhen can't be overlooked. In 20 years, that city's population has grown from 80,000 to 8 million. That makes it roughly the size of New York City! In June, Fox News reported 60 percent of the product recalls announced by the Consumer Product Safety Commission this year come from one country: China. In recent months, the rogue's gallery of recall and contamination horror stories has been numbing:
Many large U.S. companies - manufacturing or service - outsource offshore. The costs may be lower, but the risks can be lethal. Here are some questions you should be asking to make sure your company is outsourcing safely:
Dicey products are the first half of the story. Unsavory practices are the second half. These can include using sweatshops and child labor. They can involve political strife, as with blood diamonds. If a deal sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Many a reputable company and celebrity endorser have been whacked on the backside because they didn't perform due diligence. Just because some biggie in your industry trusts a resource, it's no automatic stamp of approval. According to the Times article, the Thomas train manufacturer in China also "makes toys for giants like Disney, Nickelodeon and Sesame Street." When you buy into a deal, you buy into all sides of it. A supplier becomes part of your image food chain. It's easy to be swallowed up by your own false economies. – Post-Bulletin, Rochester, Minn. News: FDA Targets Bay Area Food Lab Putrid seafood, lead-tainted candy, samples of deadly E. coli bacteria taken from spinach fields in San Benito County. A squad of federal food scientists who work inside a nondescript, two-story building in Alameda have studied them all. Now this regional laboratory is one of seven throughout the country that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is targeting to close. FDA officials say it's part of a reorganization that will improve the nation's food-safety system by freeing up funds to improve six remaining labs. But not everyone is convinced. "In the middle of all these problems that the FDA's having, it looks really bad to start closing all these labs around the country - and especially to close half of them," said Chris Waldrop, food policy director for the non-profit Consumer Federation of America. Not many Bay Area residents are aware of the Alameda lab, which employs more than two dozen chemists, biologists and microbiologists. But in an era of increasing public concern over the safety of produce and imported food, critics question the wisdom of closing a lab that provides scientific expertise for state and federal food investigators in Northern California. "We've spent a lot of time building a capability, and I don't want to see it lost," said Richard Jacobs, a veteran chemist at the Alameda lab who stressed that he was not speaking for the FDA. An expert in testing for toxic metals, Jacobs has helped develop methods or detecting lead in imported foods, advised state officials in a lawsuit against manufacturers of tainted Mexican candy and worked with negotiators on trade agreements that limited the amount of lead and cobalt in ceramics and glazes used on dishware from China. Contaminated seafood The Alameda staff also includes seafood experts who use both high-tech equipment and their own noses - backed by special training to develop their sense of smell. They work to identify bad fish even when some shippers treat it with carbon monoxide, which preserves color and texture to make seafood appear fresh after it has begun to decompose. Under the FDA plan, the lab work would be shifted to other locations, including labs near Seattle and Los Angeles. FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach recently told a Congressional subcommittee that the closings would save money on unnecessary overhead and administrative costs, particularly at older facilities, and allow the agency to buy new equipment and hire more staff at the remaining labs. Congressional staffers, however, say the FDA has not produced budget documents that demonstrate any cost savings. The FDA initially agreed to answer questions from the Mercury News last week, then abruptly canceled an interview and declined to discuss the plan in detail. The lab closings are scheduled to occur over the next three years. FDA officials say the change won't hurt the efforts of field investigators, who will continue to be based in the Bay Area to conduct routine inspections and other enforcement work. Imported food While the FDA has been criticized recently for not conducting enough inspections of imported food, congressional investigator David Nelson said the Alameda lab has played an important role in screening seafood brought into San Francisco and Oakland, which received more than 50 million pounds of imported fish last year. "Lab analysts are regularly recruited by FDA investigators to conduct predawn inspections of seafood importers and processors," Nelson told the Energy and Commerce subcommittee. As a result, he said, "many unscrupulous importers" have begun sending "questionable products" by air freight from other countries to Las Vegas, in the hope of avoiding the scrutiny they would get in San Francisco. FDA lab scientists also have teamed up with their counterparts at state agencies, in major efforts such as the investigation into last year's deadly outbreak of illness from tainted spinach. State and federal officials have had many occasions to examine produce from Northern California in recent years: Nine outbreaks related to the E. coli bacteria have been traced to spinach or lettuce grown in Monterey and San Benito counties. Shipping samples In his testimony, von Eschenbach noted that it's possible to ship samples overnight to labs located anywhere in the country. But Nelson, the subcommittee staffer, testified that other officials said they wouldn't want to rely on overnight shipping because many samples needed to be processed within hours after they are collected. In addition to the Alameda lab, the others proposed for closing are in Winchester, Mass; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Philadelphia; Detroit; Kansas City and Denver. The remaining labs are in Irvine; Bothell, Wash.; Jamaica, N.Y.; Jefferson, Ark.; Atlanta; and Cincinnati. – Mercury News <<<•>>> Thursday, August 2, 2007 Fish and Pregnancy: Reference Cards Offer Advice WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – U.S. women with questions about which fish are healthiest to eat can now consult a wallet-sized card created by a Purdue University food expert."There is a two-prong message that can be confusing when it comes to eating fish," said Professor Charles Santerre. "Fish has valuable health benefits, such as omega-3 fatty acids that benefit brain development in babies and cardiovascular health in adults. However, eating too much of certain fish can lead to higher mercury exposure, which can harm your baby. "This card is about getting the message out more efficiently that women should eat fish but also that not all fish are the same," he said. The "Fish for Your Health" cards - available from the Indiana State Department of Health - are designed to provide information for women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or who may become pregnant, as well as for young children. The card, among other things, lists salmon, farm-raised rainbow trout, herring, mackerel, sardines and whitefish as the best fish choices, as well as fish that childbearing-aged women should never eat because of high mercury levels, such as swordfish, shark, king mackerel and grouper. – Press release NY Times Critic Takes Swipe at Wild Salmon NEW YORK – I wish I’d had Al Gore with me at Wild Salmon, where I stumbled across a new sign of climate change. It concerned dessert, and it might well have concerned him.I ordered the baked Alaska, a frigid diorama in which the meringue is molded to resemble an igloo. And I noticed right away that something was extinct: a proud chocolate penguin, described in write-ups of the restaurant that had once stood beside the frosty abode. In its place a few humble chocolate fish were adrift. When I ordered the dish a second time, even they were gone, the ecosystem impoverished once more. The igloo looked smaller, and its ice cream interior was softer. A fluke? Maybe. But I wonder about global warming. I wonder as well about other oddities at Wild Salmon: the oppressive exuberance of the service, the markedly disparate appeal of the dishes. The restaurant showcases — and sometimes does justice to — the bounty of the Pacific Northwest: the oysters, crabs, mushrooms, beer and wine, from a list that reminds you how far Oregon and Washington have come. Front and center, of course, is the mighty Pacific salmon, its reputation embattled by too much fish farming and too many bland banquet-hall fillets. This restaurant endeavors to restore the fish’s rightful dignity by using only wild catch, getting it from the waters that nurture it best, and entrusting its preparation to a chef, Charles Ramseyer, who’s from Seattle, which presumably makes him a salmon savant. Jeffrey Chodorow, who put this production together, must not have thought of that. After all, few restaurateurs work a conceit as exhaustively as he does, a tendency evident in the nomenclature of the seafood platters. The smallest is called Mount St. Helens; the next biggest, Mount Shasta; the biggest of all, Mount Rainier. The amount of shellfish you get increases with the altitude of the Western peak you set out to scale. The food runs the gamut, by turns excellent, ordinary and puzzling. I never met an oyster here I didn’t love, and I felt almost as much affection for the Penn Cove mussels, plump and meaty. But Alaskan red king crab legs lost any sweetness and picked up a tinge of iodine when they logged all those food miles traversing the continent. And some of the Dungeness crab supposed to appear in a creamy chowder had apparently failed to get off the plane. I tasted mostly the corn that shared top billing with it. So it went with the starters, the worst being a “seafood margarita” that included crab, shrimp, orange, mango, lime juice and tequila. If a posse of tough shellfish were mugged by an unruly fruit salad, the crime might look something like this. Salmon came to the rescue. In one appetizer luscious slices of king, sockeye and Coho salmon, all cured and then smoked over apple wood, were presented with crunchy latkes, crème fraîche and paddlefish caviar. In another, crème fraîche and caviar topped king salmon tartar, while the sockeye in an adjacent tartar was tickled with Asian flourishes: soy sauce, ginger, pickled radish. Wild Salmon gives you multiple opportunities to compare different strains of salmon. The best method is to order the three kinds available as straightforward entrees. For each of them you’ll be asked to choose among five cooking methods (go with grilled or “cedar planked”) and 10 house-made condiments (go with Oregon morel pinot noir sauce). Only the Coho disappointed: too dry, in part from overcooking. The king was majestic, a glorious arch of flesh, at once firm and delicate, with a pinkish complexion that gave way gradually to a much redder core. Other fish — grilled halibut, black cod smoked over apple wood — also fared well. But ling cod, cooked en papillote, was a watery, salty mishap. Its presence on a menu that also spotlights yellow-eye rockfish (on some nights) and sand dabs (when available) speaks to the restaurant’s admirable attempt to branch out beyond the familiar. At Wild Salmon the execution doesn’t always live up to the inspiration. That’s probably the explanation for the evolving igloo, though you can never rule out carbon emissions. – Frank Bruni for New York Times News: A&P Joins in Mercury Info Campaign WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano applauded A&P and two other area supermarkets for joining the county’s campaign to have supermarkets throughout Westchester get the word out that pregnant and nursing women, women of child-bearing age and young children should avoid eating fish with high levels of mercury.In May, the county announced that 62 supermarkets were distributing an informational brochure titled Mercury and Fish or were posting an advisory sign about mercury at the seafood counter. At the time, there were 31 holdouts, including 25 supermarkets owned by A&P. The A&P chain has now joined the effort, as have Sam’s Club and Balducci’s. “With A&P, Sam’s Club and Balducci’s joining our effort, we now have 89 supermarkets in the county participating,” Spano said. He identified the holdouts as three Costco stores and Stew Leonard’s. “We now have 95 percent participation county-wide. We would like to have 100 percent,” he said. The educational effort began in 2004 when the county first asked supermarkets to distribute the brochure. Initially, many supermarkets were distributing the brochure. Late last year, however, the county Department of Consumer Protection found that only a few supermarkets were still doing so. - Mid-Hudson News Network A Seafood Barbecue Primer LOS ANGELES – Fish on the grill is something that should be in the repertoire of every good cook. Add a glass of crisp, cold white wine, a vegetable salad, or maybe even just some sliced ripe tomatoes, and you've got a feast fit for an exotic vacation without having to leave home. Add just a little spin - rolling the fish in garlicky bread crumbs, serving it on a bed of creamy white beans, or giving it a final blessing of a pungent herb sauce - and you've got the centerpiece of a summer dinner party you'll long remember. Of course, there are some tricks to grilling fish, as anyone will attest who has had to serve the hacked-up remains of a piece of salmon that seemed to have welded itself to the grill. If you've been in that situation, you might well think there must be some complicated magic required, maybe standing on your head and muttering an incantation like "non stickum piscium" while you're cooking. The truth is both simpler and more prosaic. It's really just a matter of following some common-sense steps. Essentially, keep your grill a clean, well-oiled place. Make it hot. And don't mess with it too much. Though pretty much any fish can be grilled, the higher the oil content and the meatier the texture, the easier the process will be. Especially if you're new at this, stick with fish such as sardines, mackerel, swordfish, shark and tuna. Probably the easiest fish to grill isn't technically a fish - squid cooks almost instantly and almost never sticks. Even better are the already skewered squid legs you can often buy at Japanese markets. For around $6 a pound, they're already cleaned and skewered; you need only brush them with oil and sprinkle with salt and they're ready for the grill. Shrimp are just as easy, as long as you leave the shells on. Try skewering them on rosemary branches stripped of their needles; the flesh picks up a subtle hint of herb that nicely complements the smoke. Ironically, probably the hardest fish to grill is the one most people try first - salmon - which sticks like the devil and, because of its flaky texture, breaks apart on a whim. If you must grill salmon, use steaks rather than fillets (they're cut across the grain rather than with it). If you must use fillets, skin them first (because there's so much moisture in the skin, it tends to stick). There are few dishes from the grill that are as impressive- or as delicious - as a whole grilled fish. The skin crisps and blackens slightly, picking up a slight overtone of smoke and funk. The flesh stays moist and sweet. With good olive oil, lemon juice and sea salt - you've got a masterpiece. Whole-fish choices There are two whole fish that seem to be most commonly available in Southern California markets. Both are perfect for grilling. The first is variously called Tai snapper, "true red snapper," daurade or New Zealand snapper. The other is usually called either branzino or loup de mer. The first is caught in the wild in the South Pacific; the second is farmed in the Mediterranean. When you buy either, have the fishmonger do the ugly part of the preparation - scaling, cleaning the innards and trimming the fins. When you get it home, all you need to do is cut shallow gashes about every inch and a half on either side. These should go through the skin but not all the way to the bone. They will allow the heat to penetrate more evenly. After that, all that's necessary to cook the fish is to brush it with oil and season it with salt on both sides and in the body cavity. Give it a squirt of lemon after it comes off the grill. Of course, you can go well beyond that, marinating it with lemon and oil and herbs such as garlic, basil, rosemary and parsley (because the taste of the fish is so subtle, it picks these up pretty quickly). Stuff the cavity with the stems and trimmings of the herbs. The most important thing to remember about cooking a whole fish on the grill is that it needs to cook through. Prod it with a spatula; poke it with a knife to make sure the flesh is tender to the center; if it still feels dense, let it go a little longer. And certainly let it rest for at least five minutes before serving. When the fish is done, the center bones (and the fin bones at the top) will pull away cleanly from the flesh. – Russ Parsons for Los Angeles Times <<<•>>> Friday, August 3, 2007 News: Sustainable Fish Info Online JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Do you agonize over whether your choice of fish for dinner is environmentally sound? You know that cod stocks have been badly depleted by overfishing but what about, for example, kingklip? Fish lovers in South Africa are hooked on a new text message service that tells them whether their prospective fish choice is in plentiful supply, best avoided or illegal.The Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI) launched FishMS in December 2006. Since then, more than 3,000 people have used the service over 11,000 times, SAPA news agency reported in July. You simply SMS the name of the fish you want to eat to a local South African mobile phone number (079-499-8795) and seconds later receive a color-coded reply. The response for kingklip, a tasty member of the eel family caught in parts of the Southern hemisphere, reads: Kingklip. Status: ORANGE. High value bycatch of hake bottom trawl and logline fisheries. Over-exploited. Max catch/year 3,500 tonnes." A question on tuna elicits answers on Yellowfin tuna (Green), Bigeye tuna (ORANGE), Longfin tuna (Green), Skipjack tuna (Green), Bluefin tuna (ORANGE) and Atlantic bonito (Green). Green means the species is plentiful, orange that is it legal to sell it but that stocks are threatened, and red that the fish is a protected species and off-limits to commercial fishing. Species on the red list include kingfish, zebra and striped catshark. SASSI, part of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), was founded in 2004 to educate the seafood industry and consumers about marine conservation issues. - Earthtimes.org News: Consumers Confused About Seafood Safety Food experts have discovered U.S. consumers are confused about seafood safety with many having differing and often-conflicting beliefs.In a survey conducted by the University of Maryland's Center for Food Nutrition and Agriculture Policy, consumers listed tuna, salmon and shrimp as the seafood containing the highest mercury levels. But when were asked which fish had the lowest levels of mercury their responses were identical: tuna, salmon and shrimp. "On one hand, we want pregnant women to eat fish, as there are plenty of benefits to the fetus in terms of cognitive development and other factors," said university researcher Maureen Storey, "But on the other hand, there is confusion about the risks, so there are a lot of conflicting messages that have been misunderstood." For the record, Storey - who presented the survey Tuesday in Chicago during the annual meeting of the Institute of Food Technologists - said the fish containing the highest levels of mercury are large predatory, such as shark and swordfish. "There may be some risk in consumption of fish," said Storey, "but there's a bigger risk in not consuming fish at all." The IFT annual meeting and exposition ended Wednesday. – PhysOrg.com Food: Ceviche for Summer CHICAGO - Ceviche is the perfect dish for the lazy days of summer. Sometimes spelled seviche, this culinary fiesta of flavorful, colorful, aromatic, multi-textured ingredients is a no-fuss method of curing fish with citrus juice.What's more, ceviche delivers the nutritional benefits of seafood and is naturally low in calories and fat. However, preparing it can be tricky because it involves soaking the fish in a highly acidic marinade. This firms up the proteins so it has the texture of cooked fish. "The most compelling, important factor in ceviche is glistening fresh fish, and the fresher the better," said chef Douglas Rodriguez, owner of DeLaCosta, 465 E. Illinois St., in Chicago and other restaurants around the country. He is credited with introducing ceviche to the U.S. restaurant scene. Rodriguez said that ceviche should be prepared the day the fish is purchased. Flounder, halibut, snapper, scallops and shrimp are just a few of the seafoods commonly used in ceviche. Mark Mendez, executive chef at Carnivale, 702 W. Fulton Market, also advised, "When you cut the fish you want the pieces of fish to be the same size so they 'cook' at the same rate and have the same texture." While raw fish usually is used in ceviche, thicker shellfish such as shrimp needs a brief cooking first. Citrus juice is the second in command in ceviche. The acid of the juice breaks down the protein in the fish, which becomes opaque and firm. Rodriguez, author of "The Great Ceviche Book," said that limes are traditionally used for ceviche in Latin America because they have the highest level of acid of any of the citrus fruits. Bitter Seville oranges also are commonly used for the marinade. Rodriguez said he sometimes combines lime with pink grapefruit or oranges. The no-wait principle also applies to citrus juices: Because they lose their acidity when exposed to air, it's essential to squeeze the fruits right before adding their juice to the fish. Salt also plays an important role. It partners with the citrus juices to cure the fish. Executive chef Paul Roman of Zocalo Restaurant and Tequila Bar, 358 W. Ontario St., uses table salt in his ceviches. Rodriguez likes using coarse salt because the large crystals glisten like tiny jewels, A variety of additional ingredients can add flavor and texture. Traditional ceviches call for sliced sweet red onions, but white onions can be used. Fresh herbs add fragrance as well as flavor. "Cilantro is the traditional herb, but I also like to use mint or basil because they have a cool, refreshing quality," Mendez said. To add a fiery kick, chilies can be added but, Roman said, "You don't want the chilies to overpower the flavor of the fish." The ceviche should be covered and refrigerated while it marinates. And marinating time is key. "The fattier the fish, such as salmon or hamachi, the less marination time is needed to draw out the fat and change the texture so it becomes firmer," Rodriguez said, "and the leaner the fish—Dover sole or any fish that's close to the bone—the longer the marination time." He added, though, that fish should not be marinated for more than 2 or 3 hours. "You want a tender, meaty texture," Roman said. "The fish gets rubbery if it is marinated too long." – Chicago Tribune News: N.C. Fish Houses Get Boost RALEIGH, N.C. - The movement to protect the state's fast-vanishing fish houses, boat yards and fishing piers got its first big financial boost with the state budget the legislature approved Saturday. The budget bill authorized the Division of Marine Fisheries to spend up to $20 million to buy waterfront property or otherwise protect or improve public and commercial waterfront access. Commercial waterfront property has become scarcer as its value for residential development has soared. Commercial fishermen, meanwhile, have been fighting high fuel prices, tougher catch restrictions and foreign competition. Fishermen and |