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testing — has made it easier to de- tect fraud that might have gone unnoticed a decade ago. DNA can be extracted from cells of fish and meat and from other foods, such as rice and even coffee. Tech- nicians then identify the species by comparing the DNA with a database of samples.

Another tool, isotope ratio analysis, can determine subtle differences between food —

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whether a fish was farmed or wild, for example, or whether cav- iar came from Finland or a U.S. stream. The techniques have become so accessible that two New York City high school students, working with scientists at the Rockefeller University and the American Mu- seum of Natural History last year, discovered that 11 of 66 foods — including the sheep’s milk cheese and caviar — bought randomly at markets in Manhattan were mis-

labeled. The students analyzed the food’s DNA in reaching their conclusions. “We put so much emphasis on food and purity of ingredients and where they come from,” said Mark Stoeckle, a physician and DNA expert at Rockefeller Uni- versity who advised the students. “But then there are things selling that are not what they say on the label. There’s an important issue here in terms of economics and consumer safety.”

It is not clear how many food manufacturers, importers and re- tailers are testing products, but large companies with valuable brands to protect have been in- creasingly using the new technol- ogy, said Vincent Paez, director of food safety business development at Thermo Fisher Scientific, which sells some of the equip- ment and performs laboratory analysis, including DNA testing. Still, of the hundreds of cus- tomers who bought 10 million

pounds of mislabeled Vietnamese catfish — including national chains and top-rated restaurants — only one or two caught the de- ception, said Assistant U.S. Attor- ney Joseph Johns, who pros- ecuted the Fairfax fish importer. “It was the rare exception, not the norm,” he said. Heinz USA and Kraft Foods,

two giant foodmakers with well- established internal controls, nevertheless fell victim to “Opera- tion Rotten Tomato,” a conspiracy

TUESDAY, MARCH 30, 2010

U.S. companies put pressure on FDA to increase efforts to halt ‘food fraud’

in which the scion of a California farming dynasty was indicted this month. He was accused of dis- guising millions of pounds of moldy tomato paste as a higher- grade product and selling it to foodmakers.

And E&J Gallo, the nation’s

President Obama: Stop the Sellout.

Save the Whales!

Dear President Obama:

America has led the international fight to stop

the cruel, unnecessary commercial slaughter of whales for decades.

Since championing passage of the international

ban on commercial whaling in 1986, every American President has reasserted our nation’s strong leadership role in the fight to save whales already threatened as never before by pollution, ship strikes, entanglement, climate change and other perils.

Today, disturbing

reports indicate that your administration may support an inter- national agreement permitting Japan and others to resume commercial whaling.

We respectfully ask

that you act immediately to stop this sellout, and instruct U.S. representatives to the International Whaling Commission to instead act to end all commercial whaling worldwide.

Honor your promise.

As a candidate you said: “As President, I will ensure

the U.S. provides leadership in enforcing international wildlife protection agreements, including strengthening the international moratorium on commercial whaling.

Allowing Japan to continue commercial whaling is unaccept- able.” (3/16/08)

“…reports indicate your administration may support an

international agreement permitting Japan and others to resume

commercial whaling.”

Over 75% of the American public agrees and opposes

commercial whaling. Scientists and environmental groups worldwide object to this unseemly, back-room deal to reward Japan for decades of illegal whaling under the guise of scientific research.

Surely,Mr. President, these gentle, intelligent creatures deserve better from us than a long and painful death just to show up on the menu in some overpriced restaurant?

Please President Obama, honor your promise: Stop the sellout. Save the Whales.

largest wine seller, sold 18 million bottles of Red Bicyclette Pinot Noir between 2006 and 2008 that had been filled in France with wine made from cheaper merlot and syrah grapes, according to a French court that last month in- dicted a dozen of its citizens in a scam dubbed Pinotgate. At the FDA’s first public meet- ing on food fraud last year, groups across the industry complained that it is not doing enough. “If it’s not going to hurt or kill someone, FDA’s resources are limited enough that they can’t take time to address it,” said Bob Bauer, a spokesman for the Na- tional Honey Packers & Dealers Association and the North Amer- ican Olive Oil Association. Both groups have petitioned

the FDA to set standards for hon- ey and olive oil, which would make it possible for companies to sue competitors that sell an adul- terated product. The olive oil in- dustry has been waiting since 1991 for the FDA to act on a re- quest; major honey and beekeep- ing groups have been waiting since 2006. An agency spokesman said those requests are pending. One longtime crabmeat seller on the Chesapeake Bay said he has complained, without results, to the FDA for years about a com- petitor who imports cheap crab and repackages it as Chesapeake blue crab, a different species that can be sold for twice or three times the price.

What is it?

WHAT YOU THINK YOU’RE GETTING

WHAT YOU MIGHT BE GETTING

Pinot noir wine Wine from

cheaper merlot or syrah grapes

Cheese from sheep’s milk

Pure 100 percent honey

Cheese from cow’s milk

Honey with added sugar beets

Rice vinegar Rice vinegar diluted with corn syrup

Chesapeake blue crab

Extra virgin olive oil

Asian swimming crab

Low-grade soybean oil colored with chlorophyll and flavored with beta carotene

Pure fruit juice

Fruit juice with high-fructose corn syrup

The National Seafood Inspec-

tion Laboratory, part of the Ma- rine Fisheries Service, randomly sampled seafood from vendors between 1988 and 1997; it found that 34 percent had been misla- beled and sold as a different spe- cies. In 2004, scientists at the Uni- versity of North Carolina estimat- ed that 77 percent of snapper sold in the United States is mislabeled. “With the recession, people are

trying to make money in any way, shape or form,” said William Ger- gits, a co-founder of Therion International LLC, which special- izes in DNA-based testing ser- vices. “Southeast grouper and red snapper fisheries here are lim- ited. If you think about all the res- taurants in Florida, there’s not enough supply to go to those res- taurants.”

Despite growing imports, the

FDA inspects just 2 percent of fish coming into the United States from other countries. The agency wants to create a

You can help! Text IFAWto 30644 or visitwww.ifaw.org/stopthesellout

surveillance system that would alert regulators to likely fraud, said Jennifer Thomas, director of enforcement at FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutri- tion. She said the FDA regularly swaps intelligence with two other agencies that share responsibility for catching seafood fraud. It has also bought a $170,000 DNA se- quencer for its Seattle field office. She pointed to several FDA ac- tions against food fraud in recent months, including the first debar- ment of a seafood importer, sug- gesting that may be a deterrent. Peter Xuong Lam, president of Virginia Star Seafood Corpora- tion of Fairfax, was convicted last year of selling the mislabeled cat- fish. Ten other individuals and companies were also charged. Lam was sentenced to five years in prison and is barred from im- porting food into the United States for the next 20 years. Authentification should be a standard practice throughout the food industry, Stoeckle said: “If it’s simple enough that high school students with some su- pervision can do it, it moves out of the research application to something you can do regularly.”

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