Fish substitution

[happyas]

About twenty years ago I was walking through the local market and passed the fishmongers stall. On display were fish fillets labelled flathead tails. Now while I am not a scientist nor an expert, I have caught and cleaned a fair few fish in my time on this earth. These slightly pinkish fillets with a dash of silver where the skin was separated looked a lot like flathead fillets but were a bit too wide and a bit too pink. I asked the lady behind the counter what sort of flathead fillets they were. She told me that they were New Zealand flathead. I told her that I thought they were gurnard fillets which she denied. I pressed my point and she agreed finally that they were gurnard but told me that that is what NZ flathead were, gurnard.
Well it is still happening. For several weeks now, I have noticed a local fishmonger selling flatty tails. He was also selling gurnard fillets which were on display 4 or 5 display bays away from the flatty tails. Flatty tails were circa $58/kilo and gurnard were circa $38/kilo. They were the exact same fish! The tray with the "flattie tails" contained a few slightly smaller specimens of the gurnard fillets, but they were the same fish. He noticed me comparing the 2 trays as I walked from one to the other inspecting them. He didn't approach me nor did I say anything to him. Today the gurnard fillets weren't there but the "flatty tails" were. I can't prove it nor would I want to try, and it is only my humble, non expert opinion that substitution is happening. But, be aware if you are buying flatty tails. Be sure that what you are buying is what is advertised. The general public would be none the wiser.

[Digger]

I've been raving on about this subject for as long as I can remember!

I think this certainly needs legislation to ensure that there is honesty and transparency, as well as statement of origin on all fish sold, no matter where or how. Wholesalers, fish shops, cafe's and restaurants! Also why the hell do we need to adopt south seas names for fish caught in Oz when we have our own names for them? Why confuse the bloody issue and encourage sellers to muddy the waters like that for extra profit?

I've seen frozen fish in supermarkets cut to look like flathead and claiming to be just that but it looked like that white crap they farm in those grotty Asian rivers to me and certainly wasn't the flathead we know and love....dishonest mongrels. Supermarkets too for giving them space on the shelves!

Unless we speak up then we get the treatment we deserve.

P.S. At times gurnard can be better than flathead IMO.

[Steve_R]

It sounds like the shop was complying with old laws when fish outlets were required to give an honest answer when asked!

There is now a fish name standard.
http://seafoodstandards.com.au/fish-nam ... fault.aspx

There are 71 listings containing Flathead and 49 listing containing Gurnard in the Fishnames database. I doubt any of the listings allow Gurnard to be sold as Flathead Tails but that doesn't mean there isn't a loophole in the law.
http://www.fishnames.com.au/

[Yakass]

Its a good thing no one here needs to buy fish. I mean after all, we catch our own. Don't we?

[Digger]

Its a good thing no one here needs to buy fish. I mean after all, we catch our own. Don't we?

Mostly~