can anyone still buy orange roughy?

[Special K]

Is anyone able to find orange roughy at their local grocery stores/fish markets? I was under the impression that no one stocked it anymore due to overfishing problems, but then last week I randomly found some at a grocery store in Kansas of all places.

When I returned to Texas I spoke to a fishmonger at a local grocery store and he insisted that whatever I bought in Kansas must have been mislabeled, either deliberately or accidentally, as it is currently illegal to fish orange roughy due to it being an endangered species.

If getting real orange roughy is impossible, are there any other fish that taste extremely similar? I'm wondering what I actually bought from the fish market in Kansas and also what to look for as an alternative if I cannot get real orange roughy.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

The fishery is tightly protected with strict catch quotas, it's not banned altogether. What is legally caught *can* be bought and sold in the USA. I just can't believe a fish market in Kansas had orange roughy.

If you want something similar look for cod, pollock, haddock turbot or even grouper. There's no real reason to buy orange roughy even if it is available. It's just a firm, VERY mild white fish with no 'fishy' flavor and no real character of its own. There are a lot of fish like that and it's almost impossible to tell one from the other.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Mislabeling fish is very common, especially in grocery stores. You can substitute ocean perch, blackfish, flounder, sole, haddock, tilapia... I doubt that what you bought was orange roughly. There really are no laws in place to keep retailers from calling fish whatever they like.

 

[NetWareHead]

Try Asian food stores. There is a korean food market near me and they always stock it.

 

[PottedMeat]

Mislabeling fish is very common, especially in grocery stores.

yeah, the only way to be sure is to know what it looks like & buy the whole fish

 

[Special K]

If you want something similar look for cod, pollock, haddock turbot or even grouper. There's no real reason to buy orange roughy even if it is available. It's just a firm, VERY mild white fish with no 'fishy' flavor and no real character of its own. There are a lot of fish like that and it's almost impossible to tell one from the other.

I've never had turbot or grouper, but I've had the others and IMO they taste significantly different than orange roughy.

I'll have to look for turbot and grouper.

 

[Special K]

Mislabeling fish is very common, especially in grocery stores. You can substitute ocean perch, blackfish, flounder, sole, haddock, tilapia... I doubt that what you bought was orange roughly. There really are no laws in place to keep retailers from calling fish whatever they like.

I didn't realize there was no regulation in place to prevent retailers from labeling fish whatever they want to. That's unfortunate.

I personally don't think tilapia and haddock taste anything like orange roughy. I'll have to try ocean perch, blackfish, flounder, and/or sole.

 

[Puppies04]

Mislabeling fish is very common, especially in grocery stores. You can substitute ocean perch, blackfish, flounder, sole, haddock, tilapia... I doubt that what you bought was orange roughly. There really are no laws in place to keep retailers from calling fish whatever they like.

I find it hard to believe that US food producers don't have a legal obligation to make sure their food is labeled properly.