September 12, 2016 — Seriously, you read that headline correctly.
Among the bills signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday is legislation that would ban the sale of escolar — a fish that causes some cases, uhhh, distressing gastrointestinal effects for diners — by any other name.
Because only Casey Seiler can do such a Tale of Actual Legislation justice, from his report earlier in the year:
Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee and Sen. Tony Avella are the most recent lawmakers to address the problem of the misbranding of escolar — aka walu or the snake mackerel — a fish that while reputed to be rich and delicious can have a rather, well, unpleasant impact on a certain subset of diners.
The justification memo on their bill points to multiple investigations — including a 2011 Boston Globe report that while comprehensive and worthwhile will almost certainly never be made into an Oscar-winning movie — that “revealed significant levels of fraud and species misidentification” on menus.