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Steve Palumbi has a few rules when it comes to sushi. If something is labeled tuna, then it probably is, but stay away from the salmon, because it probably isn’t. More likely, it’s steelhead trout—a close relative of salmon, both of which start life in freshwater, migrate to the sea, and return to their natal stream to breed and die. But still: a trout. Shrimp is shrimp and crab is crab, unless it’s pollock. And don’t trust the white fish. That could be anything: tilapia, something else, who knows. |
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Palumbi is a marine biologist at Stanford University and the director of the Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, Calif. He has tested the veracity of seafood labels at venues ranging from huge, upscale grocery stores to small fish markets. As a practitioner of what might be called molecular forensics, he uses DNA “to see whether the things we assume are true really are,” and it’s time, he says, for the scales to fall from our eyes. |
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