Are You Buying Soggy Sea Scallops? - Oceana USA
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September 27, 2012

Are You Buying Soggy Sea Scallops?

It turns out many consumers have been getting soaked paying too much for scallops artificially plumped with excess water. According to a Boston Globe investigation seafood processors routinely load up the shellfish meat, which can sell for as much as $15 a pound, with water.

While scallop meat (that delicious adductor muscle that makes the animal surprisingly mobile) naturally retains about 75% water, samples taken from major chains like Trader Joe’s, Target and Walmart were up to 91% water.

How they do they squeeze in all that excess water? The answer is less than appetizing. Seafood processors often resort to treating the meat with sodium tripolyphosphate and other chemical additives which boosts water retention.

As the article notes, its nearly impossible for consumers to know whether they’re getting their money’s worth at the register:

“There are some signs that suggest scallops may have been treated: Excess water leaches out when cooked, discolorations can appear on seafood, and the shellfish do not sear as well as they should. But it’s essentially impossible to ­detect when scallops are in a package or behind the seafood counter.”

As Oceana campaign director Beth Lowell is quoted as saying in the article, “Businesses are advertising wild-caught, naturally raised seafood that has really been treated and consumers are being misled and paying for water they shouldn’t.”

Oceana is leading the fight against seafood fraud. Mislabeled seafood can have dire consequences for at-risk species and make it difficult for seafood lovers to make eco-friendly choices about what they’re eating. But this latest episode of seafood fraud shows that the consumer loses out as well when the industry is less than honest about the product it puts out.