One-third of seafood mislabeled, study finds

If you order tuna at a D.C. restaurant, chances are half the time you’ll be getting another, less expensive fish in its place. But those odds are better than if you had wanted snapper. Testers nationwide found that 87 percent of the time, restaurants and grocery stores were selling something else under that label.

As much as one-third of seafood sold in restaurants and groceries is fraudulently labeled, according to a report the advocacy group Oceana released Thursday. The group sampled 674 retail outlets in the District and 20 states between 2010 and 2012, often finding cheaper, farmed fish being sold in place of wild-caught ones.

Ninety-five percent of the sushi restaurants, 52 percent of other restaurants and 27 percent of grocery stores surveyed sold mis­labeled seafood. While academics, consumer groups and media outlets in the United States and elsewhere have scrutinized fish labeling before and found major errors, Oceana’s effort is one of the largest seafood investigations to date. Read more >>

Some big U.S. food chains lose more than 50 percent of sales

Both logos. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the past 10 years, some of America’s biggest food chains have lost more than 50 percent of their sales as they closed hundreds of locations nationwide.

These restaurants, which include former American staples such as Big Boy, Ponderosa and Bennigan’s have not been able to maintain a steady crowd. They have failed to update their brand or menu options. As a result, locations have been closed in favor of a new generation of eateries. Based on data provided by food industry consulting and research firm Technomic Inc., 24/7 Wall St. reviewed the large restaurant chains with the biggest decline in locations and sales between 2001 and 2011.

Restaurant brands are facing new challenges, Darren Tristano, Executive Vice President of  Technomic, told 24/7 Wall St. in an interview. “What’s happening today is that the contemporization of restaurants is creating a new breed, a new generation of restaurant in a competitive environment.” The struggling brands, which “tend to be older in nature," Tristano said "have not kept up with current generations, or have been dominated by new competition within the segment.” Read more >>