Two sushi restaurants in Washington state must stop mislabeling fish used in their sushi and pay a combined USD 5,500 (EUR 4,916) fine.
Sushi Tokyo in Seattle and Oto Sushi in Redmond signed an agreement with the Washington Attorney General’s office after an investigation found that they mislabeled tuna and snapper between March and August, 2016.
“Consumers deserve to know the truth about what they are buying,” said Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson.
After food laboratory testing of the two restaurant’s raw salmon, tuna and snapper, they found that, when sushi was labeled as “white tuna” or “albacore," it was actually escolar.
In addition, Sushi Tokyo mislabeled tilapia as “Tai red snapper.”
“In these cases, unacceptable market names were used in labeling fish. AGO investigators determined that the restaurants had purchased correctly-named fish, but changed the names on their menus,” the Attorney General’s office said in a statement.
In addition to agreeing to discontinue deceptive practices, Sushi Tokyo was ordered to pay USD 4,000 (EUR 3,575) and Oto Sushi must pay USD 1,500 (EUR 1,341).
The Attorney General’s Office said it started the investigation of sushi restaurants after Oceana’s report on the mislabeling of fish in sushi was published.
