NYCFish ("Sushigate"): high school students discover one-quarter of fish sold in their NYC neighborhood is mislabeled

News report by students Kate Stoeckle and Louisa Strauss


Dubbed "Sushi-gate", their investigation drew wide and continuing interest

The New York Times
August 21, 2008, page 1
Chosun Ilbo (Korean Daily News) circulation 2.2 million
Time Magazine
CBS Early Show
August 23, 2008
Invited presentation at AAAS annual meeting, San Diego, CA, Feb 2010
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Mislabelings were as more expensive or more desirable fish

For example:

Student study helped spawn further investigations

In October 2011, US FDA officially adopted DNA barcoding for detection of seafood fraud

https://www.fda.gov/Food/FoodSafety/Product-SpecificInformation/Seafood/DNAspeciation/default.htm

More on "Sushi-gate"

Among 60 items tested:

Mislabeled items sold in 6 of 10 grocery stores/fish markets and 2 of 3 restaurants

In a NY Times sequel story, chefs claimed supreme expertise, followed by a Op-Ed “Fish or Foul” highlighting fallible judgment of experts.

Research article reporting NYCFish findings: Wong EHK, Hanner RH, 2008, DNA barcoding detects market substitution in North American seafood. Food Res International 41:828-837.


Trinity School
Consortium for the Barcode of Life
Census of Marine Life


The Rockefeller University
University of Guelph
Fish-BOL

URL: https://phe.rockefeller.edu/barcode/sushigate.html
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