Common counterfeit foods and how to identify them (2014) | Hacker News Reader

Common counterfeit foods and how to identify them (2014)

bonappetit.com

78 pointsmoistly95 comments

Not only does this mean the customer overpays, but the fish that end up on the plate are often ones you wouldn't want to eat in the first place. Escolar, which often shows up instead of tuna, contains histamines that can cause very disturbing side effects...

Escolar is delicious, and I'd be disappointed to learn that the "white tuna" I was getting was albacore (blech). Also: I don't think histamines have anything to do with the GI side effects of overconsuming escolar.

The whole article is pretty weak. "Stay away" from artificial vanilla, it says, but then: Cooks Illustrated triangle-tested this with panels and found that in baked goods, artificial vanilla is actually what you want. Your cinnamon is... cassia! Look for real Ceylon cinnamon on the label! Why? Who's to say?

The idea that you need to buy milk from local farms, or switch to nut milk, to avoid detergents is especially funny. I think they're just writing this stuff to grab attention, not because they have any insight into food counterfeiting. Belle Cushing was one year out of Brown when Conde asked her to put this together; I assume the research was a series of Google queries.

It's annoying because there really are interesting (and problematic!) counterfeiting issues. I'm terrified of supermarket olive oil. Too bad Conde has no better advice than to find a "tasting bar".

I once bought a whole 6-8 inch block of dry-ice frozen escolar from some online sushi website and it caused some diarrhea (though not in any really bad way like an upset stomach—it just really lubricated your bowels). Also you'd have to eat a lot of it in one sitting. I read that it was due to indigestible oils, not histamines though.

Yeah, you need to be careful with escolar; a piece or two of nigiri is all I'd risk with it. But the reason you have to be careful with it is that, in addition to being indigestible, it's very delicious. It's something you'd want to eat a bunch of! If this article had any credibility, I'd say it's ironic that the only places I've ever had escolar served as escolar are Michelin-starred.

Publications have been trying to scare people with "counterfeit white tuna" for decades.

Oh boy I ate like a 3x5x2 inch chunk in one sitting that day. Needless to say I did shit my pants.

I guess what bugs me about this is that to me, if you're ordering "white tuna", escolar is the thing you want, not albacore. Albacore belongs in a can. It's not "counterfeit" so much as oddly-named.

I don't think its just escolar that does this. I'm a huge fan of salmon and if I eat too much this also happens.

I don’t think i’ve ever gotten this from salmon and I’ve eaten equivalent amounts of raw salmon before. However extremely greasy foods do cause a reaction down under for me so it could have been salmon belly or fatty salmon that you had too much of.

I'm assuming the histamines thing is referring to scombroid poisoning which happens in escolar as well as other types of fish when it's not properly stored before eating.

https://www.health.state.mn.us/diseases/scombroid/index.html

This counterfeits food article is lazyily researched clickbait.

To piggyback off of your comment on escolar, the article's description of toothfish being passed off as Chilean sea bass is also rather misleading. "Chilean sea bass" is just a marketing term for toothfish, which means they're the same thing. All Chilean sea bass is a type of toothfish, but the article makes it sound like there may be a way to get 'real' Chilean sea bass.

according to the research I just did, escolar is not toothfish; "Chilean seabass" is Patagonian toothfish.

Exactly, that was annoying, Chilean sea bass ain't nothing but a way to market toothfish.

Yeah, "stay away from imported milk powder", what, all of it? My country is pretty damn proud of the milk powder we export, it's good stuff. But let's not discuss the environmental cost a massive switch to dairying has inflicted.

Check the origin of olive oil. If it's Tunisia, you're good. We've been exporting olive oil for 3000 years. It's all hand picked and pressed in the 12 hours following the harvest, the process has been mastered for generations. And "extra virgin" is the normal quality over here, we don't have lesser than that

I am sure that Tunisian olive oil is delicious (I've been to Morocco where it was also great, but not Tunisia - yet!) The problem for anyone who isn't there in person is not knowing if it's been mixed with less-delicious oil from somewhere else while it was being shipped. Here in the US I tend to stick to oil from California, which is less likely to have been tampered with (since it didn't travel as far, or pass through as many hands).

I think this is mostly FUD. Olive oil gets botteled, sealed and branded before getting shipped to USA. When it's sold in bulk, you will find origins other than Tunisia on the bottle. Olive oil is like wine, every territory has it's own flavour. I'm sure some people will like the taste of Californian olive oil, while others will like the Tunisian olive oil

Yes, that makes sense, if it was shipped in the bottle it should be fine I'm sure.

I have some Tunisian olive oil that I enjoy very much, and I am interested in learning more about it, but with respect, there's no reason presented why Tunisians or the Tunisian name would be less involved in counterfeiting that Greeks, Italians, Californians, etc.

Because we only produce olive oil in Tunisia and actually import other types of oil. It does not make sense economically to mix it with something that's not cheaper.

There is also nothing preventing intermediate distributors outside Tunisia from blending and repackaging that oil with cheaper oils. Or from such scoundrels from outright lying about the country of origin.

No one has come up with an unbreakable or unforgeable supply chain for these goods, which is why counterfeiting is still such a problem.

Checks out. Organic Tunisian olive oil in one liter glass bottles is all I buy, all the way up here in Finland, and it's both the highest quality and cheapest, oddly enough.

Ironically, the parent comment has much less research than the article. For example,

> I don't think histamines have anything to do with the GI side effects of overconsuming escolar.

'I don't think'? That's it? Are you an expert? They didn't even say anything about excess consumption (not generally required for allergic reactions) in the part you quoted, so that seems like a strawperson.

> I assume the research was a series of Google queries.

At least the comment is honest about its sources.

There's literally a name for the GI illness escolar causes: keriorrhea. It's caused by the indigestibility of wax ester-containing oils in the muscle tissue of the fish; it's a phenomenon similar to those "fat-free-fat" potato chips they used to sell. The "histamine" thing is a reference (the author doesn't know it) to a problem (scombroid poisoning) caused by improper storage of many different kinds of fish, not just escolar --- tuna and amberjack cause it too. Scombroid poisoning happens because, above a certain temperature, histadine in the fish flesh is enzymatically converted to histamine.

Happy to help! Would have been happy to help the author of this bad article, too. Oh, well.

The article mentions pomegranate as a "super food".. something I've long wondered if these super foods are only "super" because at the time of discovery a lot of them are grown naturally and not commercially min/maxed for yield at the expense of nutrient panel etc.

Hrm. I'm into that pomegranate thing, maybe not so much for the superfood thing, but because I simply like the taste.

Anyways, there is an experience eating them, which I didn't have with any other food, so far. I only can compare this with the feeling of burning heat you'll get when for instance drinking strong alcohol(Brrr!), or chewing and swallowing a few pieces of raw garlic(Brrr!). Then one can feel a hot burning sensation, spreading out from the stomach, all over the tummy.

Similar happens with pomegranates. But different, not hot and burning, just a good feeling warmth. And this happens only eating them raw, not from drinking juice, no matter if organic/direct pressed, or from concentrates. Still tastes good, but doesn't have the "effect".

Doesn't really matter where they come from, the strength of the effect and the taste varies, it's all very variable, depending on ripe-/freshness? Similar as it is with apples.

I've had very good ones out of season coming from Chile, had excellent ones from Iran, Türkiye, and elsewhere I can't remember right now.

Whenever I see them in some grocer/supermarket I buy one ore two for testing, and when they are good I'll get one to two whole boxes whith about 25 to 30 of them. They store well, but it doesent really matter, since they are gone soon anyway :-)

tl;dr: Raw good, juice mostly still tasty, but not as good.

Maybe you’re just slightly allergic to pomegranates?

You mean the feeling of warmth spreading out is an allergic reaction?

If so I wouldn't care, because it feels good. I don't know how to describe this exactly. Maybe inducing a feeling of general wellbeing?

While not a true counterfeit I'd be curious on the brands/foods/restaurants that increasingly add fillers to their products. As inflation rises companies turn shady tricks like less product for the same price and substituting ingredients to help offset the costs. These tricks tend to happen slowly so they go unnoticed to the average consumer.

Is there evidence connecting fraud to inflation? Very generally, the cost of someone's income and expenses both increase. It also provides a way for sellers to increase costs, regardless of inflation, then blame inflation like it's a natural force. There was a NY Times article about it in the last few months.

I’m not saying it’s outright fraud but companies change things and don’t tell the consumer. Im making up this example but let’s say you buy a coffee blend that’s composed of 60% bean A, which is more expensive, and 40% bean B. Then next week they flip the ratio, 60% B/40% A but still charge the same price. I can’t say it’s outright fraud but it kinda feels deceptive. Of course the company might say “consumers actually prefer the 2nd mix blah blah blah.”

I found a this article pretty good.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-12/how-infla...

I understand, but I'm saying it's fraud. I think we somehow have lowered our standards for 'business'. If customers prefer the second mix, then there's no reason the vendor can't label it as such and let customers make up their own minds.

I see what you mean. I totally agree. It’s a bit like a bait an switch.

I’m not aware of any consumer protection laws against something like that. The only thing I could think of is either regulated products, like buying 2% milk that isn’t 2%. Or where it’s a obviously counterfeit.

In the former case of regulation Bryers ice cream changed their labeling to remove “ice cream” because it doesn’t meet the USDA definition of ice cream and instead call it “frozen dairy dessert”.

https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/is-your-favorite-ice...

The best people could do is vote with their dollars but it’s not always obvious.

I see butter didn't make the list. Butter quality has gone to shit in many brands recently, and some of it tastes like it was mixed with or is wholly pure margarine. Kerrigold was sued recently over their claim that their butter is from pasture raised cows.

Edit: "has been" = was

This is a disingenuous comment.

I just Googled the Kerrygold thing. A single person sued, making claims. Suit dismissed by judge four years ago.

https://twitter.com/Butterrespecter/status/15327644046175559...

Well, now that does seem pretty misleading on Kerrygold’s part. Very similar to the “from Italy” essentially meaning “spent a nonzero amount of time within Italy’s borders” in some cases, as the author called out.

Likewise Kerrygold’s cows are “grass-fed” insofar as they’ve ingested grass at some point in their lives… I think it merits the criticism

The article is talking about expensive food. There is good German television series about industrial food processing. When you end with bacon chips without any bacon inside. Or wasabi product containing 0,07% wasabi. But heck, I just bought fake 2€ sanding paper. It looks like sanding paper, but does nothing to the sanding object while the real brand paper is super efficient and durable. I mostly assume that the goods I buy now are fake.

I bought fake sand paper on accident two years ago or so. Was completely useless, but did appear like sandpaper....

I don’t get it. How do you buy fake sandpaper? Was it on Amazon and you couldn’t feel it?

I think the cinnamon one is a bit unfair. Cassia is what basically everyone in the USA knows and expects as cinnamon.

Alternatively you could see this as a damning consequence of letting this kind of “innocent” food fraud go unchecked. It’s gotten so bad with cinnamon that effectively zero percent of cinnamon in America is cinnamon, but is a cheaper counterfeit.

Part of me is inclined to agree with you. There’s nothing “wrong” with cassia. But it bothers me that we’ve established a precedent that we can just label one food as another because it’s cheaper and easier to access.

There's two types of cinnamon commonly used as a spice:

Cassia cinnamon

Ceylon cinnamon

The latter is what this article is calling "real" but they are both real. Ceylon originates in India and is used in Indian cooking. Cassia originates in SEA/China Asia and is used in recipes there.

They are simply two different varieties of the same tree and they are both cinnamon. In fact there are many more varieties than just that two, same as with apples, tea, coffee or any other plant and it makes no sense to designate only one variety of cinnamon as "real". They have different flavors and neither is better.

In fact, the genus Cinnamomum which contains cassia and ceylon (C. cassia and C. verum, respectively) is pretty large and diverse. Sometimes what people refer to as cassia can actually be one of several species, e.g. C. burmannii, which is also often referred to as korintje. There are others that can be ambiguously named. E.g. the aromatic compound camphor is harvested from camphorwood (Cinnamomum camphora), which is not to be confused with the tree known as camphorwood in Australia, Cinnamomum oliveri.

I have no real point here other than cinnamon (i.e. the genus Cinnamomum) is fascinating and confusing in equal measures and people should definitely read up on it.

> Ceylon originates in India and is used in Indian cooking.

As an Indian, I can assure you that the cinnamon we use in our cooking is indeed Cassia.

Ceylon is in Sri Lanka, a bit south of us.

Ah, thanks for the info, I didn't know that - I have only travelled in the south of India and found that mostly Ceylon was used.

Cassia does originally come from China though, although I guess it has spread a long way.

it's not, however, "unfair" to teach people that there are actually different varieties of a product they buy, and that one is more expensive and maybe presumed to be better. I agree with you that they did not make all these distictions clearly, but it was interesting to learn and I plan to taste test them when I can.

They are literally calling other varieties "fake" and telling you to avoid them at all costs. Not really what I would call teaching.

There is almost zero correlation in Italy between the type of the rice on the package and the type of the rice contained, only a couple types have regulations, and even for these they're not always respected [1]

I hate it because we're often sold an inferior product and likewise it's probably too late to do anything about it.

1. http://bressanini-lescienze.blogautore.espresso.repubblica.i...

Yeah, I would argue that calling it counterfeit is completely wrong. Cassia and Ceylon cinnamon are both in the genus cinnamomum, so it's completely appropriate to call both cinnamon. Really, they're two very different spices whose flavors are only somewhat similar and have different culinary uses, but Ceylon cinnamon is less common in the US, so when we say cinnamon we pretty much always mean it to be cassia cinnamon- no deception or counterfeiting involved here.

Kind of like wasabi. The people who expect real wasabi know what to look for.

I've heard that most wasabi in American restaurants is actually horseradish with green food coloring. Does anyone know more?

I had heard the same, but it is true even in Japan.

Real Wasabi is insanely water-intensive. This is where I first read about it:

https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/585172/wasabi-fake/

There is a NZ brand which has cracked cultivation. It is not cheap.

https://www.purewasabi.co.nz/

ETA: I have not tried it. Saving the purchase for when I can talk my wife into sushi from my wild catches. Tall order.

Yes, even in Japan real wasabi is a treat at a nice sushi place. Most wasabi is gathered and cultivated by hand, and then freshly hand grated for your seating. You can buy the root at some Japanese stores and grate it yourself.

yeah but if you get real wasabi, to do it justice you're gonna need the traditional shark pelt mounted on an artisanal wooden board to grind it on. we aren't peasants.

There are a number of places in the PNW that grow wasabi, at least one on Vancouver island, one in Oregon, and I think one in Washington. The price at my local asian grocery store seems to range from $99 to $199 per pound over the last 3-4 years. Totally nonscientific, I just pay attention when picking up other herbs. I'd guess about $129/lb is normal there. I still haven't convinced myself to make a meal to justify the expense, I don't cook enough Japanese food.

https://www.thewasabistore.com/the-farm-1

NC State University’s horticulture program also cultivates it in mountain stream beds.

side remark wrt wild catch:

Take good care of parasites. The deep frying of stor bought fish is also a parasite treatment, so is cooking. Wild catch needs detailed knowledge for the specific species, if and how it needs inspection and if and how it can be eaten uncooked and unfrozen, ie completely raw.

Wild catch is not just in and by itself "good and healthy"

This article has some sound references at the end:

https://sushimodern.com/sushi/safe-sushi-grade-species/

Oh yes. I am well aware of the parasites.

Our next freezer will be of the requisite grade.

Local fishing charters here like to dice up fresh salmon or trout on the boat as sashimi. I reckon their customers stay thin, if you follow my meaning.

Freezing deep freezing! autocorrect fried my freezing, can't edit any more, thanks for reading my gibberish as intended

I don't think you need a special grade freezer. Just one that isn't self defrosting. It only has to be at -4F for a week or two.

Yeah, you can shorten that time with colder temperatures I have read.

Also, some fancy sushi chefs let the fish age a while at very low temps. See: Naomichi Yasuda

According to the FDA tuna is the only one that's not required to undergo parasite destruction. Even then is not "no risk" its "extremely small risk".

I don’t see much problem with this. Most Japanese people have a green tube of grated wasabi in their house. (https://www.sbfoods.co.jp/products/detail/16343.html)

There’s definitely filler (more than 50% is real)but I don’t think people care, especially the average busy wife trying to get dinner on the table every day.

Most of the time I’ve had real wasabi its at a super nice place, like eating kaiseki, and it’s presented as the root with a small shark skin grater.

> Most Japanese people have a green tube of grated wasabi in their house. (https://www.sbfoods.co.jp/products/detail/16343.html)

>> 原材料名: 本わさび、西洋わさび、...

...except the everyday stuff shown in your link indeed contains substantial 本わさび as a first ingredient, whereas the typical stuff sold in the US[1] is effectively just 西洋わさび and happens to be explicitly labeled "For external Japan" (despite also being manufactured in Japan) for reasons.

In other words, a consumer in Japan who settles on "close enough" isn't really making an equivalent compromise as a consumer in the US.

[1] https://www.sbfoods-worldwide.com/products/search/001.html

Excellent points. It makes me wonder… I love yuzukosho. I don’t taste the difference but I wonder if the ingredients are significantly different from between the JP and the US one.

Then they can label it something else and let people make their own decisions about it.

Also most storebought salmon and tuna is soaked in red/pink dye to give it that color. Farm raised fish don't always have that color unless their diet supplies the carotenoids and other things they need for that color, like a flamingo that turns pink from its diet.

Is that true for wild salmon or only farm Raised salmon?

I don't think the flesh of farmed salmon is actually soaked in dye. Rather, farmers use an additive in the food pellets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astaxanthin Note that astaxanthin is also what colors the flesh of wild salmon, they just consume it naturally. https://wildalaskancompany.com/blog/heres-why-salmon-are-pin...

It's not dye, it's carbon monoxide. New York Times article: https://nyti.ms/3Ni2CFL

Where I am located, it is dye. Dye is far more common.

I've had real wasabi and was pretty underwhelmed. Not nearly as strong so you appreciate the flavors more. But not worth the exorbitant price.

I disagree, though I’m not sure it’s all that superior to freshly grated white horseradish.

In the US, you're generally paying extra for real wasabi (it'll be on the menu, in a better Japanese place). Honestly: unless you're like a connoisseur of wasabi, the "fake" stuff is a more effective product; real, freshly grated wasabi is kind of watery and weak. Certainly, if you're one of those "mix wasabi into the soy sauce" people, real wasabi isn't what you want.

A simple rule of thumb is: if the chef didn’t grate the wasabi in front of you immediately before serving, you got coloured horse radish.

I’ve had plenty of both but I generally enjoy the sharper heat of the latter more, even though it annoys me that it’s mislabelled and hence a bit “fake”.

It's worth trying real wasabi at least once to know what it tastes like and appreciate it. It has hints of grass, as it should for a vegetable/root that has been recently grated, sometimes in front of you (and it must be recently grated, to not have lost its flavor). It has a slower/deeper flavor than the horseradish stuff which hits you more immediately in the nose like mustard -- real wasabi takes just a little longer. And you can definitely tell it's a plant fiber, it's not just a mushy paste like the powdered stuff.

Ask for it at higher priced places where they take a little more care about the fish quality and eventually you're bound to find some. Like so many things it's good to know the difference at least once. It's no huge loss if you only eat the horseradish the rest of the time, but at least have experienced it once!

In South Korean markets, the cheap tubes of "wasabi" are colored horseradish. The texture of the cheap stuff is grainier. As for the taste difference, I can't think of the right words, but it's like the difference between cheap and fine coffee. The flavor of real thing is somehow mellower and richer.

Yes, real wasabi has an earthy flavor and will be a bit chunky. You’ll know it if you get it and you’ll be paying a lot extra for it (even in Japan). Most of us have never had real wasabi.

Not just USA. Got mugged in Europe: wasabi was actually horseradish. My fault? Should have read the label, i guess.

Is it really mugging if "wasabi" is really horseradish everywhere? At this point wasabi is just the name for horseradish paste.

Living in southeast Asia, i just look for the spelling mistakes. Pretty sure Quaker Oats don't really put "seaving suggetions" on the tin.

I remember an anecdote about Heinz insisting his products come in glass containers. Apparently at the time it wasn't unheard of for the bottom of canned goods to be packed with rocks or sawdust.

And now we've returned to that era with overly large plastic packaging that's only 50% full, if that.

for a completely different industry (lego bricks) someone explained that the overly large packaging comes from automation. because the machines just drop stuff in an open box. an they need extra space to avoid overflow or parts falling off the side because they didn fall into the right place.

just like you use a large funnel to avoid spillage even when a smaller one would do.

i also read elsewhere that the products settle during transport. which at least makes sense for corn flakes and other similar shaped foods.

If this were the case, the air would not keep increasing relative to bag size. Leaving all that aside, the crisps I bought as a child came in bags with nowhere near this amount of "required" extra space. This is quite simply a deceptive marketing tactic to make you be at peace with getting less for more (or the same, best-case).

My favorite was when I was buying Great Value "100% Natural Flavor" chocolate syrup... which contains vanillin. False advertise much?

Vanilla extract is listed - I’ve recently been using homemade extract. I originally did this because I ran out during a covid spike, but it works well enough that I’ll probably continue doing it.

It’s relatively straightforward. Just chuck a split vanilla bean or two in with some strong liquor like tequila or vodka and let it sit for a month or two.

Things that are imitated are usually done so because the “real thing” is expensive and/or hard to get. This is like saying “why buy a fake Rolex when you can just buy a real one”. Sure, you can, but it pretty much misses the point of why imitations exist.

I've forgone real vanilla completely. It's expensive, inconsistent, and very bad for the environment.

The taste we associate with real vanilla is it's imperfections anyway. So I'll cut artificial vanilla with a splash of bitters and bourbon and have found it to be generally superior for most recipes.

Good vanilla extract is made using a more complex process than just putting vanilla in alcohol [1]. With that said, in most usages the differences between good extract, cheap extract, and even artificial extract are not noticeable [2].

1. https://www.seriouseats.com/diy-vanilla-extract

2. https://www.seriouseats.com/taste-test-is-better-vanilla-ext...

Thats an interesting pair of articles. Thanks for the links.

(2014)

Dang. I don’t see a way to edit the title now. Sorry.

Ugh, "pork bung calamari scandal"?

Yeah, this was the one I came looking for. Inverted pork anuses look just like calamari. If you’re not getting tentacles you’re getting pig butthole.

No wasabi?

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