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Importer's mislabeled Asian Catfish was ‘Key West grouper’ in name only |
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Tom Katz was scrambling for a cover story. The Burlington fish broker faced tough questions from executives at T.G.I. Friday’s. Why was the grouper they received from Katz rubbery and pink, rather than the typical firm, white fish? Katz had worked months cultivating a relationship with the popular restaurant chain and was closing in on a grouper deal worth more than $3 million that would make Friday’s one of his top customers. Bad fish would kill it. When one Friday’s executive e-mailed the unthinkable - perhaps the fish was not grouper at all - Katz offered a string of excuses: Cold water could have turned it pink. Or maybe it was the fish feed. Perhaps the grouper bled internally. Persuaded by the affable salesman’s pitch, the chain featured Katz’s fish at more than 500 of its restaurants, serving it with roasted vegetables and a citrus splash. But the Friday’s executive was right: It wasn’t grouper. Customers were actually eating an inexpensive, lower-quality Vietnamese catfish reared in thickly packed Mekong River delta fish farms. And, according to federal court records, Katz apparently knew it. Read the complete story from The Boston Globe
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HASTINGS: Time to improve the Endangered Species Act
May 18, 2012 - When the Endangered Species Act (ESA) was signed into law in 1973 by President Nixon, he spoke about the importance of preserving “the rich array of animal life with which our country has been blessed.” I believe that goal is as important today as it was back then. However, after nearly 40 years, it’s time to take a fresh, honest look at the law and consider whether there are ways it could be improved to do a better job of protecting and recovering species.
