Macgregors Seafood Notes

The Seafood Short Weight Issue

When is the last time you took a frozen box of seafood, slacked it out, and weighed what the product actually weighed? If you are buying frozen Squid, Basa or Tilapia, chances are it weighed less than the declared weight on the box.

At a recent meeting held in Toronto, hosted by the industry group, Fishery Council of Canada, it was widely agreed that short weight in the Canadian seafood industry is a problem. So much so, that a task force industry group has been organized to bring this issue to the forefront.

The first step was to agree that there is an issue. The next step is to set up a meeting with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to discuss this issue.

In the meantime, what can you do? Certainly, you can indeed weigh your frozen product in slacked out form to see if you are getting declared weights. My suggestion is to look on the ingredient listing to see if there is anything else declared other than the fish itself. "Glazed water", phosphates?" These are beware of ingredient listings.

If you do come up with a short weight example, please forward to me, and I will ensure your information is sent to the FCC task force group.
Mr. Fish