Chefs and Restaurant Owners Call on Congress to Require Seafood Traceability and Prevent Fraud
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1 Chefs and Restaurant Owners Call on Congress to Require Seafood Traceability and Prevent Fraud As chefs and restaurant owners, we are committed to serving seafood that protects our oceans, our wallets and our health. Yet as more seafood is imported into the United States, our fish follows an increasingly complex path from fishing vessel to plate, increasing the risk of fraud each step of the way and making it more difficult for us to make eco-friendly choices. Despite growing concern about where our nation’s seafood comes from, chefs, restaurant owners, and consumers are routinely given little or no information about the fish they purchase. We rely on our purveyors to supply us with high quality, safe, legal, and honestly labeled seafood. Unfortunately, Oceana recently found that one-third, or 33 percent, of seafood samples collected nationally were mislabeled according to Food and Drug Administration guidelines, especially for popular species like red snapper, wild salmon and Atlantic cod, disguising fish that are less desirable, cheaper or more readily available. Fortunately, Congress can do something to address this problem. The Safety and Fraud Enforcement for Seafood (SAFE Seafood) Act (H.R.1012/S.520) would require that all seafood sold in the U.S. be accompanied by detailed information, including the species name and where and when it was caught or farmed. The bill would also strengthen our government’s interagency coordination on fighting seafood fraud, as well as improve its ability to identify those who mislabel seafood and refuse entry of those products, if imported. With about 1,700 different species of seafood from all over the world now available in the U.S., it is unrealistic to expect chefs and restaurant owners to be able to independently and accurately determine that the fish they are getting is actually the one they paid for. We should be able to tell our customers, without question, what they are eating as well as where, when and how it was caught. Congress has an opportunity to set standards that ensure consumers are not being cheated. By tracing seafood from the fishing vessel to the dinner plate, we can have more confidence that the food we serve is safe, legally caught, and honestly labeled. With your help, we can continue to make decisions that not only please our customers, but also help protect our oceans. Please pass the SAFE Seafood Act today. 2 Signers as of October 25, 2013: Brian Aaron David Anderson Ernest Arroyo Executive Chef Executive Chef Sous Chef & Aaron’s Catering Cisco Systems & Production Manager Miami, FL Regional Fish Forager Middletown, CT Bon Appetit Sarah Acconcia Management Company John Ash Chef San Jose, CA Chef, Educator & The Chameleon Café James Beard Baltimore, MD José Andrés Award Winning Author Chef & Owner Santa Rosa, CA MJ Adams ThinkFoodGroup Chef Washington, DC Jeremy Ashby Rapid City, SD Chef & Owner Josh Anglin AZUR Restaurant & Patio Allison Albriton Cook Co-Host Director of Operations Santa Fe, NM Food News & Chews TV Northfield, MN Lexington, KY Jo Ann Asher Joseph Alfieri Sack’s Café Kyle Bailey General Manager Anchorage, AK Chef Palo Alto, CA Birch & Barley & David Apthorpe Churchkey Jack Amon General Manager Washington, DC Marx Bros. Café Cleveland, OH Anchorage, AK Brittany Baldwin Sebastian Archambault Portland Home Chef Johnny Anderes Executive Chef Portland, OR Executive Chef Park Hyatt Washington Telegraph & Reno Washington, DC Eric Banh Chicago, IL Chef & Co-Owner Alan Archer Monsoon, Paul Anders Corporate Executive Chef Monsoon East & Ba Bar Executive Chef & Owner New England Region Seattle, WA Sweet Basil Restaurant & Nestle Professional Minor’s Mountain Standard Chapter President Sophie Banh Restaurant Professional Chefs of Chef & Co-Owner Vail, CO New Hampshire Monsoon, American Culinary Monsoon East & Ba Bar Brian Anderson Federation Seattle, WA Sous Chef Pelham, NH San Jose, CA David Leo Banks Cathal Armstrong Executive Chef/Partner Executive Chef Harrys Hospitality Group Restaurant Eve Wilmington, DE Eat Good Food Group Alexandria, VA 3 Bay Lobsters Fish Market Candace Beattie Jason Bond Twinsburg, OH Owner Chef Thames Street Oyster House Bondir Restaurant Bob Bankert Baltimore, MD Cambridge, MA Executive Chef The Mooring Restaurant Wilo Benet David Bouley Sayer’s Wharf Pikayo Restaurant Chef & Owner Newport, RI San Juan, Puerto Rico Bouley Restaurant New York, NY Dan Barber Linda Bish Executive Chef & Sous Chef Daniel Boulud Co-Owner Grove City, PA Chef & Owner Blue Hill Restaurant The Dinex Group New York, NY Caroline Bennett New York, NY Moshi Moshi Jeremy Barlow London, England Anthony Bourdain Chef & Owner New York, NY Tayst Restaurant, Sloco Elizabeth Blau Local Kitchen Catering Owner Chas Boydston Author Honey Salt AAC Chefs Can Save the World Partner President Nashville, TN Simon Palms Place ACF Chicago Society at Wynn Chefs of Cuisine Eric Barnachea Las Vegas, NV Chicago, IL Executive Chef Santa Clara, CA Dan Blumenthal Sam Bracken Executive Chef The Canebrake Mario Batali Mangia Bene, Inc Wagoner, OK Chef, Author & Jackson, MS Entrepreneur Terrance Brennan New York Steve Biery Chef-Proprietor California Chef Picholine & Nevada St. Thomas, USVI Artisanal Restaurants New York, NY Joseph Batchelder Joel Blice Sous Chef Director of Operations Bill Brodsky Mountain View, CA St. Mary’s City, MD Chef & Owner City Landing Fedele Bauccio Brian Boitano Boston, MA CEO Host Bon Appetit “What Would Brian Ron Bromfield Management Company Boitano Make?” Owner Palo Alto, CA Food Network Red Horse Restaurant San Francisco, CA Frederick, MD Jeremy Bearman New York, NY Christopher Brunst Sous Chef II Oberlin, OH 4 Alex Buder Carlos Canada Merry Catanuto Executive Sushi Chef Executive Chef Owner & Manager Flagship Restaurant Group Flea Street Café The House of William & Omaha, NE Menlo Park, CA Merry Restaurant Cool Café and Stanford Hockessin, DE Jan Buhrman Cooleatz Catering Chef, Caterer & Stanford, CA Robert Cawley Sustainable Executive Chef Food Advocate Kim Canteenwalla Senior Instructor Chilmark, MA Owner Culinary Arts Honey Salt Trenholm State David Bull Operating Partner Technical College Executive Chef Society at Wynn Montgomery, AL Congress Austin Las Vegas, NV Austin, TX Ryan Clark Theodore Canto Jr. Executive Chef Jeremiah Bullfrog St. John’s College Lodge on the Desert gastroPod Annapolis, MD Tucson, AZ Miami, FL Vincent Carbone Nicolas Chaize Arlene Burnham Chef & Owner Chef & Owner Retail Manager Carbone Hospitality Nico’s at Pier 38 Caldwell, IL Hartford, CT Honolulu, HI Rocco Cadolini Kim Carlson Clayton Chapman ROC Restaurant Tribeca Editorial Director Chef & Owner New York, NY Culinate Blog The Grey Plume Portland, OR Omaha, NE Matthew Caldwell General Manager Michael Carr-Turnbough Christian Chemin Caldwell, IL Vice President Culinary Executive Chef Sage Hospitality Walla Walla, WA Chris Callender Denver, CO Chef Ken Cheung ACF Arrowhead Professional Yves Carreau Chef Chefs Association Chef Proprietor Santa Clara, CA Grand Marais, MN The Big Y Group Pittsburgh, PA Prasad Chirnomula Nicholas Calias Director Director of Food & Beverage Norman Carreaux Future Food Group Corporate Executive Chef Executive Chef Manager New Haven, CT The Colonnade Hotel & Norfolk, VA Brasserie Jo Michael Cimarusti Boston, MA Patrick Cassata Chef & Owner Executive Chef Providence Wheaton, IL Los Angeles, CA 5 Thomas Ciznak David Dadekian Michael Delcambre Executive Chef & Partner Owner Executive Chef Chakra Restaurant eat drink RI Caldwell, ID Paramus, NJ Chef & Director Crystal Daggett Gabrielle Quinonez Denton TLC Restaurant Group Sous Chef Chef & Owner Chef & Director Walla Walla, WA Ox Restaurant Blue Morel Portland, OR Morristown, NJ Brian Dagnell Executive Chef Greg Denton Luca Corrazzina Middletown, CT Chef & Owner Executive Chef Ox Restaurant 312 Chicago Hotel Allegro Peter Dale Portland, OR Chicago, IL Chef & Co-Owner The National Richard DeShantz Steve Corry Athens, GA Meat and Potatoes Chef & Owner Pittsburgh, PA Five Fifty-Five & Riccardo Dardha Petite Jacqueline Owner & Chef Lauren DeShields Portland, ME Bread & Tulips Executive Chef New York, NY Market 17 Keith A. Coughenour Ft. Lauderdale, FL Executive Chef Kiley Davis The Duquesne Club Chef & Manager Jeff Drew Pittsburgh, PA Salem, OR Chef & Partner Snake River Grill Frank Crispo Mike Davis Jackson, WY Chef & Owner Chef & Owner Crispo Restaurant Terra Kelly Dickson New York, NY West Columbia, SC Executive Chef Caldwell, ID Matthew Crudder Peter Davis National Geographic Executive Chef Michael Dimin Society Local Artisan Henrietta’s Table & Sea to Table Sodexo Corporate The Charles Hotel New York, NY Service Solutions Cambridge, MA Washington, DC Chris DiMinno Denise DeCarlo Chef Justin Cucci Chef Clyde Common Chef & Owner Los Angeles, CA Portland, OR Root Down & Linger Denver, CO James Delamar III William S. Dissen Executive Sous Chef Owner & Executive Chef Cristin Dadant Cary, NC The Marketplace Restaurant Clementine Asheville, NC Baltimore, MD Christine Delcambre Director of Catering Mounds View, MN 6 Jim Dodge Derek Emerson Susan Feniger Chef & Director Chef & Owner Chef & Co-Owner Special Culinary Programs Walker's Drive-In Border Grill Bon Appetit Jackson, MS Restaurants & Trucks Management Company Los Angeles, CA Palo Alto, CA Renee Erickson Chef & Co-owner Frederic Feufeu Mark Dommen The Walrus and the Bleu Restaurant Chef & Partner Carpenter, The Whale Wins, Mashpee, MA One Market Restaurant Barnacle & Narwhal San Francisco, CA Chef & Owner Adam Fleischman Boat Street Cafe Umami