# Food Fraud



## jaybett (Jul 13, 2016)

Interesting article. 

Jay

http://nypost.com/2016/07/10/the-truth-behind-how-were-scammed-into-eating-phony-food/


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## DamageInc (Jul 13, 2016)

This reads a lot like fear mongering.


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## JBroida (Jul 13, 2016)

there is quite a bit of BS in that article too


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## LifeByA1000Cuts (Jul 13, 2016)

Most of the news we get contain bits of good quality fact that is however past its sell by date, mixed with some filler from mystery sources, and some creative elements, presented on very garish plates on shaky tables.


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## jaybett (Jul 13, 2016)

DamageInc said:


> This reads a lot like fear mongering.



I believe that is the definition of most stories in the news. 



JBroida said:


> there is quite a bit of BS in that article too



Which parts? 

There is confusion over the term organic and what it means and when its label can be used. There are questions being raised about how restaurants use the term farm to table. So why not questions about grass raised beef? A few years ago there was concerns about shrimp and other seafood farm raised in China. Or is it surprising that Wallmart standards for seafood and meat are similar to Whole Foods?

Jay


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## malexthekid (Jul 13, 2016)

It sounds more like a bashing of imports than anything. And certainly read more like hyperbole than food factual reporting.

Though i will say it does appear US labelling standards are a bit off. And i know a lot of labeled EVOO coming out of italy is supposedly just olive oil (note is only a fraud in name it is still olive oil and just loqer grade, some would say if you are just cooking with it then it isn't really an issue).


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## heldentenor (Jul 13, 2016)

The straw-man consumer that the article sets up is a pretty low bar IMHO. It's pretty easy to know if your olive oil is the real deal, for example, and I would guess that the claims about only two sushi restaurants in America serving the fish they claim are more than hyperbolic. Jon knows the sushi world better than anyone here, and I bet he could offer a range of counterexamples.


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## jmgray (Jul 13, 2016)

I watched show on this olive oil thing. The Italian mafia cuts something like 85-90% of all exported extra virgn olive oil with non virgin olive oil. I guess they say that it is a big part of how the make their money. 100s of million dollars. I see if I can find again might of been on VICE channel.

Jeff


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## malexthekid (Jul 13, 2016)

jmgray said:


> I watched show on this olive oil thing. The Italian mafia cuts something like 85-90% of all exported extra virgn olive oil with non virgin olive oil. I guess they say that it is a big part of how the make their money. 100s of million dollars. I see if I can find again might of been on VICE channel.
> 
> Jeff



Yeah similar to what i had heard (without the mafia link) and is why I only by the Aussie made stuff over here. And if I am using it in a simple dressing or something where the oil sings i will only use good stuff from boutique olive groves who live and die by their quality.


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## jmgray (Jul 13, 2016)

It wasn't VICE. It was on 60 Minutes called "Argomafia"


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## JBroida (Jul 13, 2016)

jaybett said:


> I believe that is the definition of most stories in the news.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



there are more than 3 restaurants serving legitimate kobe beef... there are only 3 that are "certified" to sell them, but we have other sources than buying direct. We still get DNA sheets, nose prints, and family lineage sheets with kobe beef here... just through wholesalers instead of direct.

Also, there are a number of sushi restaurants aside from the highest end places that are doing legitimate jobs at selling things correctly and knowing their fish. I could list at least 20 off the top of my head just here in LA (not including those i know in other cities).

Lastly, its a bit misleading, as problems tend to be prevalent at lower-end places, as one might expect anyways, and there are way more of those than the fancier places that are more often talked about. It would be like making blanket statements about all knives when really only looking at german knives because the bulk of knives being used are german or german style knives.


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## brainsausage (Jul 13, 2016)

I can't find links right now, but the olive oil business is rife with treachery. Some people have gone so far as to add chlorophyll to oil to give it a greener appearance/'flavor'. The bad business goes back to the late 1800's early 1900's. There was a huge propaganda campaign instituted globally by major Italian growers to push the 'higher quality' of Italian olive oils. When in reality- they have a shorter fruiting season compared to Spain/Greece/California, and are selling what is seen by most as under-ripe product.


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## Chef Doom (Jul 13, 2016)

jaybett said:


> I believe that is the definition of most stories in the news.
> 
> 
> 
> ...





jaybett said:


> I believe that is the definition of most stories in the news.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



The term organic and it's application is dependent upon the state or country you reside in and/or the origin of the company that produces and slaps the label on it. Also *grass fed* was never meant to mean *pasture raised* which is partly why I believe the author of the article only knows half of what he is talking about. Not to mention she is repeating information that has been floating around various articles for the past 10 years.

People shouldn't be swayed by fancy terms and colorful labels. I raised an eyebrow the first time I saw "twice cooked french fries/fried chicken". It sounds like a justification for the premium pricing due to their extra effort to provide the crispiest fried food when in reality they are probably selling me the frozen products they couldn't sell fresh last Saturday because it was slower then expected.


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## Lizzardborn (Jul 14, 2016)

brainsausage said:


> I can't find links right now, but the olive oil business is rife with treachery. Some people have gone so far as to add chlorophyll to oil to give it a greener appearance/'flavor'. The bad business goes back to the late 1800's early 1900's. There was a huge propaganda campaign instituted globally by major Italian growers to push the 'higher quality' of Italian olive oils. When in reality- they have a shorter fruiting season compared to Spain/Greece/California, and are selling what is seen by most as under-ripe product.



The bad business goes probably to 2-3 millennia before Christ. One of the first major trades in the Mediterranean was olive oil. I can assure you that there were rascals looking for quick buck back then too.

@Chef Doom - to make edible french fries isn't double frying the standard way? In oils with different temperatures.


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## spoiledbroth (Jul 14, 2016)

i stopped reading at like the second paragraph where they said wagyu is an inferior cut to kobe (neither of which are "cuts")... lmfao

also I'm pretty sure there's american raised cattle sold as kobe whereas wa gyu means japanese cow. yeah. utter waste of time this article.


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## alterwisser (Jul 14, 2016)

The breaking news in this article was: if there's money to make, people will cheat to increase profits. I'm flabbergasted!


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## Chef Doom (Jul 14, 2016)

Lizzardborn said:


> @Chef Doom - to make edible french fries isn't double frying the standard way? In oils with different temperatures.



Most restaurants purchase pre-cooked french fries already frozen and fry them upon order, or pre-cooked and sitting next to the warm fryer if they are being lazy. Very few restaurants are willing to actually go through the tedious process of potato to double fried french fries and to believe otherwise is is foolishness.


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## JDA_NC (Jul 15, 2016)

Chef Doom said:


> Most restaurants purchase pre-cooked french fries already frozen and fry them upon order, or pre-cooked and sitting next to the warm fryer if they are being lazy. Very few restaurants are willing to actually go through the tedious process of potato to double fried french fries and to believe otherwise is is foolishness.



I think saying very few actually cut their own fries is exaggerating a little.

I've worked at 5 different places that did their own fries. And only 1 that served them frozen (not including fast food). Punching, rinsing, and blanching frites (have to be fancy :biggrin isn't the most attractive work but it also isn't a massive burden like you're implying.


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## panda (Jul 15, 2016)

Wa gyu to &#128518;


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## mille162 (Jul 15, 2016)

spoiledbroth said:


> i stopped reading at like the second paragraph where they said wagyu is an inferior cut to kobe (neither of which are "cuts")... lmfao
> 
> also I'm pretty sure there's american raised cattle sold as kobe whereas wa gyu means japanese cow. yeah. utter waste of time this article.



Many years ago there was a small little spot in Miami connected to the back of China Room called "Kobe Club", at the time it gave Prime 112 a run for it's money (IMHO much better!).

They had a tasting menu that featured Japanese Kobe vs American Wagyu vs Australian Wagyu. 2oz of each, identical again, cut and preparation.

Now I'm sure there's differences in regions, herds, etc. for each country, but it was an interesting comparison. Side by side, Japanese was too rich and buttery, American was a bit to "gamey" and the Australian shined as our preference with a better balance of that melt in your mouth and not too rich taste.

An interesting article on Wagyu/Kobe that gives some background on the US market: http://www.blackmorewagyu.com/the-wagyu-story-in-australia/

Last week I was in Syndey and several restaurants had Wagyu on the menu. Had 6, 8, and 9 ratings. Couldn't tell the difference between any of them, but didn't taste them side by side. All were amazing.


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## Chef Doom (Jul 15, 2016)

JDA_NC said:


> I've worked at 5 different places that did their own fries.



How many places as of today would you say that you worked at total?


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## brainsausage (Jul 15, 2016)

Chef Doom said:


> How many places as of today would you say that you worked at total?



This is a pretty ridiculous numbers game. Are you going to break down the average covers of each restaurant as well to gauge the to frozen to 'fresh' fry ratio? I think the take home here is that sweeping statements tend to contain more rubbish than value.


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## cosworth (Jul 16, 2016)

Extremely politically motivated... Reads more like support local produce - implying only these are 'real'.


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## aboynamedsuita (Jul 16, 2016)

The article is definitely written with a slanted and condescending tone. I've read some of this before but it was written in a much less biased manner. I'm not saying I disagree that some products may be counterfeited (quite the contrary actually), but the article doesn't present that in a credible manner


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## Chef Doom (Jul 17, 2016)

mille162 said:


> Many years ago there was a small little spot in Miami connected to the back of China Room called "Kobe Club", at the time it gave Prime 112 a run for it's money (IMHO much better!).
> 
> They had a tasting menu that featured Japanese Kobe vs American Wagyu vs Australian Wagyu. 2oz of each, identical again, cut and preparation.
> 
> ...





brainsausage said:


> This is a pretty ridiculous numbers game. Are you going to break down the average covers of each restaurant as well to gauge the to frozen to 'fresh' fry ratio? I think the take home here is that sweeping statements tend to contain more rubbish than value.



Am willing to go there is I have to. The point is it may seem like a lot if its a small town in Nebraska with only 20 restaraunts. in most major cities it is a small percentage. if you worked at 100 restaurants that is only 5 percent which in my world counts as rare.


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