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  The Society for Consumer Advocates and Mavens

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GROCERY STORE CONS

Beware that fresh, bright red ground meat may be wrapped up with not-so-fresh, old brownish ground meat! If you discover this upon unwrapping your next purchase of ground meat, it may be good advice to take it back to the store where you bought it and complain!

Incidentally, 85% lean ground beef is not low in fat! Just one quarter pound of it is equal to a whole day's worth of bad-for-you, saturated fat.

Stores and markets may "mislabel" certain cuts of meat as more expensive cuts of meat instead of less costly cuts! Consumers may never know the difference because most of us will automatically trust the meat label.

Also, in the fresh fish department the best fish is that which is closest to and literally touching the ice in which it is packed in. Always ask to smell the fish fillets you plan to buy. If it smells "fishy", "lemony" (of lemon) or like ammonia do not buy it. Some stores have been known to try and mask the odors of not-so-fresh fish using lemon juice or ammonia!

For the freshest fish it may also be wise to steer clear of buying fish on sundays. Deliveries of fish may rarely be made on sundays so ordering a fish meal at a restaurant or buying fish at a grocery store or fish market on sundays and you may possibly be buying fish that is at least a day old if you are looking for the freshest fish possible.

You may be buying what you think is expensive snapper when it is actually cheap rockfish! This practice is fraudulent and in the seafood market industry this is commonly called "species substitution".

Other frauds here are color additives to make you think the fish is fresher than it really may be. Or oysters may be weighed down by extra water and fried clams may be more breading than seafood which is called "over-breading".

No one knows for sure just how much fish fraud goes on because, to date, seafood is NOT systematically checked for fraud! Beware of unusual bargains too. Your only protection is to shop at reputable places and do not assume you can tell one fish from another.

Fish is more likely to be fresh when it has a nice clean smell of the ocean and does not smell bad, fishy or of lemon or ammonia. Always look for firm, shiny fish flesh that bounces back when you touch it. The eyes of the fish should be clear and bulging. The gills should be a bright red and when you run your hand across its flesh if it flakes or if the fish flesh comes off it is not fresh and is breaking down and getting old. Wiggle the center bone of a fish steak. If the meat pulls away it is old. Also, white-fleshed fish should not have yellow tones. Of course, always keep fish cold or bury it in ice.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCES: MIAMI HERALD NEWSPAPER 1/27/97 and WTVJ-TV NEWS 2/25/97 and NUTRITION ACTION HEALTH LETTER MAY 1997 and CNBC-TV STEALS AND DEALS 2/6/97

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