(JP)Tainted dolphin sold as whale

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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20010619a4.htm

 

ANALYSES UNCOVER LIE, MERCURY

Tainted dolphin sold as whale

 

FUKUOKA (Kyodo) A tenant in a Tokyo department store

sold mercury-tainted dolphin meat in February after

falsely claiming it was whale meat, investigations by

a citizens' group showed Monday.

The meat, from striped dolphins caught off Wakayama

Prefecture, was found to contain mercury at levels

roughly 170 times provisional limits set by the

government, according to the group Safety First.

 

Nanami Kurasawa of the Dolphin and Whale Action

Network said she first discovered the meat on the

store shelf and thought it strange that the product

was labeled " minke whale from Wakayama, " when Japan's

annual research whaling quota for waters near the

archipelago is limited to around 100 minke whales to

be caught off Hokkaido and the Pacific Ocean off the

Tohoku region coast. At about 350 yen per 100 grams,

it also seemed cheap for whale meat, she added.

 

Activists then had the Institute of Cetacean Research

conduct DNA analysis of the meat they purchased from

the shop in February, and found it was the meat of a

striped dolphin. Further analysis by Daiichi College

of Pharmaceutical Sciences in Fukuoka revealed that

the meat was contaminated by 67 parts per million of

mercury.

 

After the ban on commercial whaling in 1987 and the

subsequent decrease in supply of whale meat, critics

have been pointing out that meat from dolphins caught

along the coast of Japan has been sold as whale meat

at high prices.

 

Research revealed that the tenant, who was not

identified, has been selling at department stores what

has been touted as minke whale meat from Wakayama

since around last July.

 

According to the marine produce company that operates

the tenant shop, the meat it purchased from a market

in Chiba Prefecture was initially labeled " blackfish, "

which is also a type of whale. The firm admitted it

mistakenly labeled it minke whale upon selling it.

 

Kurasawa said, " If meat is labeled 'whale meat at a

discount price,' consumers will buy it even if it is

dolphin meat. Shops must label products correctly. "

 

Critics say that, given the false label discovery in

addition to the mercury contamination, the relevant

authorities should implement measures to better ensure

that product labeling does not mislead consumers.

 

The Japan Times: June 19, 2001

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