I used to make my own sushi at home, but for about the last year or so,
I haven't been able to find the quality of tuna I prefer (dark red,
solid flesh). I used to find it at Asian markets, or sometimes the local
Wild Oats. But lately, it seems all they have are pale cuts of tuna, or
none at all. And what they have seems to be way more expensive than before.

I searched the web and there were some articles from 2003 referring to a
shortage of tuna and overfishing--so I'm just looking for confirmation.
Is there a shortage?

Thanks in advance.

"LittleGreyPoodle" > wrote in message
news:PxhCe.35896$Qo.26838@fed1read01...
> I used to make my own sushi at home, but for about the last year or so,
> I haven't been able to find the quality of tuna I prefer (dark red,
> solid flesh). I used to find it at Asian markets, or sometimes the local
> Wild Oats. But lately, it seems all they have are pale cuts of tuna, or
> none at all. And what they have seems to be way more expensive than
before.
>
> I searched the web and there were some articles from 2003 referring to a
> shortage of tuna and overfishing--so I'm just looking for confirmation.
> Is there a shortage?

Prices and quality have been stable. No shortage here (U.S. West Coast).

"LittleGreyPoodle" > wrote in message
news:PxhCe.35896$Qo.26838@fed1read01...
> I used to make my own sushi at home, but for about the last year or so,
> I haven't been able to find the quality of tuna I prefer (dark red,
> solid flesh). I used to find it at Asian markets, or sometimes the local
> Wild Oats. But lately, it seems all they have are pale cuts of tuna, or
> none at all. And what they have seems to be way more expensive than
before.
>
> I searched the web and there were some articles from 2003 referring to a
> shortage of tuna and overfishing--so I'm just looking for confirmation.
> Is there a shortage?
>
> Thanks in advance.

A couple of years ago there were some news articles talking about the
reduction of
Bluefin Tuna stocks, placing particular blame on the Japanese market demand.
However since then, we have not seen any real reduction in stocks or the
resulting
rise in prices. A similar but more widely publicized issue concerned the
Patagonian Toothfish,
which is marketed as Chilean Seabass. Despite a considerable amount of furor
about
the depletion of stocks, the fish is still widely available and the prices
remain unchanged.

When you say "pale cuts of tuna" do you mean pinkish rather than red? If so
you
are looking at chu-toro cuts, fattier and closer to the belly.
The very same fish that provides those "pale cuts" also provide the akami,
the solid red
upper body cuts, so that's not any sign of fish depletion.
True fish depletion is a very difficult thing to measure especially with
migratory pelagic fish.

M

On Tue, 19 Jul 2005 00:05:42 +0200 (CEST), Anonymous via the
Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer > wrote:

>> I used to make my own sushi at home, but for about the last year or
>> so, I haven't been able to find the quality of tuna I prefer (dark red,
>> solid flesh). I used to find it at Asian markets, or sometimes the
>> local Wild Oats. But lately, it seems all they have are pale cuts of tuna,
>> or none at all. And what they have seems to be way more expensive than
>> before.
>
>I'm no expert, so this is pure (optimistic) speculation. There was an
>article in the NY Times a while back about the use of CO for treating
>tuna to make it very red and "attractive" (google a.f.s for "carbon
>monoxide"). MAYBE the industry decided to use less of that or to make
>the declaration more obvious to consumers. Since a lot of people
>prefer pale but natural to red but treated, maybe that's why there's
>less bright red tuna right now.
>
>The same amount of tuna, but less of it is being COed to redness?
>
>
I get mine from a fish market that has them only hours from alive.
Even then it's not really dark red. Kind of a medium red and very
tasty! I'm telephoned when the boat is on the way in. You can't get
any fresher than that unless you're on the boat.

Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer wrote:
>>I used to make my own sushi at home, but for about the last year or
>>so, I haven't been able to find the quality of tuna I prefer (dark red,
>>solid flesh). I used to find it at Asian markets, or sometimes the
>>local Wild Oats. But lately, it seems all they have are pale cuts of tuna,
>>or none at all. And what they have seems to be way more expensive than
>>before.
>
>
> I'm no expert, so this is pure (optimistic) speculation. There was an
> article in the NY Times a while back about the use of CO for treating
> tuna to make it very red and "attractive" (google a.f.s for "carbon
> monoxide"). MAYBE the industry decided to use less of that or to make
> the declaration more obvious to consumers. Since a lot of people
> prefer pale but natural to red but treated, maybe that's why there's
> less bright red tuna right now.
>
> The same amount of tuna, but less of it is being COed to redness?

CO treated tuna are coming from Malaysia, for the most part. Japanese
sushi chefs do not want to use this treated product. So it makes its
way into the super markets here, labeled cryo-vac tuna. I read the
label on a piece I bought and noticed the "CO treated" part. Treating
it extends the shelf life of the product and keeps it bright red.

They're not doing it to make it look good, they're doing it to keep it
on the shelf longer.

--
Dan

"Dan Logcher" > wrote in message
...
> Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer wrote:
> >>I used to make my own sushi at home, but for about the last year or
> >>so, I haven't been able to find the quality of tuna I prefer (dark red,
> >>solid flesh). I used to find it at Asian markets, or sometimes the
> >>local Wild Oats. But lately, it seems all they have are pale cuts of
tuna,
> >>or none at all. And what they have seems to be way more expensive than
> >>before.
> >
> >
> > I'm no expert, so this is pure (optimistic) speculation. There was an
> > article in the NY Times a while back about the use of CO for treating
> > tuna to make it very red and "attractive" (google a.f.s for "carbon
> > monoxide"). MAYBE the industry decided to use less of that or to make
> > the declaration more obvious to consumers. Since a lot of people
> > prefer pale but natural to red but treated, maybe that's why there's
> > less bright red tuna right now.
> >
> > The same amount of tuna, but less of it is being COed to redness?
>
> CO treated tuna are coming from Malaysia, for the most part. Japanese
> sushi chefs do not want to use this treated product. So it makes its
> way into the super markets here, labeled cryo-vac tuna. I read the
> label on a piece I bought and noticed the "CO treated" part. Treating
> it extends the shelf life of the product and keeps it bright red.
>
> They're not doing it to make it look good, they're doing it to keep it
> on the shelf longer.
>
> --
> Dan

What Dan says is true, the CO treated tuna shows up in US markets as frozen
tuna steaks, and
in supermarket fish departments. I am also convinced that it does show up to
some extent in the
non-Japanese run lower cost "sushi" places all over NY City. These places
invariable use Kihada Maguro
(Yellowfin Tuna) to start with whereas top class Japanese places all use Hon
Maguro (Bluefin) or
Mebachi Maguro (Bigeye) if at all available. Yellowfin is used to a limited
extent in Japan though the biggest
market is in canning, right behind albacore.
M

Musashi wrote:
> "Dan Logcher" > wrote in message
> ...
>
>>Anonymous via the Cypherpunks Tonga Remailer wrote:
>>
>>>>I used to make my own sushi at home, but for about the last year or
>>>>so, I haven't been able to find the quality of tuna I prefer (dark red,
>>>>solid flesh). I used to find it at Asian markets, or sometimes the
>>>>local Wild Oats. But lately, it seems all they have are pale cuts of
>
> tuna,
>
>>>>or none at all. And what they have seems to be way more expensive than
>>>>before.
>>>
>>>
>>>I'm no expert, so this is pure (optimistic) speculation. There was an
>>>article in the NY Times a while back about the use of CO for treating
>>>tuna to make it very red and "attractive" (google a.f.s for "carbon
>>>monoxide"). MAYBE the industry decided to use less of that or to make
>>>the declaration more obvious to consumers. Since a lot of people
>>>prefer pale but natural to red but treated, maybe that's why there's
>>>less bright red tuna right now.
>>>
>>>The same amount of tuna, but less of it is being COed to redness?
>>
>>CO treated tuna are coming from Malaysia, for the most part. Japanese
>>sushi chefs do not want to use this treated product. So it makes its
>>way into the super markets here, labeled cryo-vac tuna. I read the
>>label on a piece I bought and noticed the "CO treated" part. Treating
>>it extends the shelf life of the product and keeps it bright red.
>>
>>They're not doing it to make it look good, they're doing it to keep it
>>on the shelf longer.
>
> What Dan says is true, the CO treated tuna shows up in US markets as frozen
> tuna steaks, and
> in supermarket fish departments. I am also convinced that it does show up to
> some extent in the
> non-Japanese run lower cost "sushi" places all over NY City. These places
> invariable use Kihada Maguro
> (Yellowfin Tuna) to start with whereas top class Japanese places all use Hon
> Maguro (Bluefin) or
> Mebachi Maguro (Bigeye) if at all available. Yellowfin is used to a limited
> extent in Japan though the biggest
> market is in canning, right behind albacore.

I have seen it in some non-Japanese run sushi bars. Not to say that
Japanese sushi chefs in the US wouldn't buy it, but the few that I go to
would not.

I bought two of the treated steaks from the super market, still frozen and
bright reddish-pink. I thawed and lightly grilled one of them. It was ok,
but seemed a bit watery tasting. I don't think I would use it for sushi
though..

--
Dan