Will trick consumers to believe they're eating wild

Tor-Eddie Fossbakk A US aquaculture company, HQ Sustainable Maritime Industries (HQSM) would like to trick consumers to think they're eating wild Pollock when they actually are eating farmed tilapia.

HQSM has developed a chemical which, when applied to farmed fish, will give this fish the flavor of wild caught fish.

Because consumers favor Pollock from the northern Pacific as the primary ingredient in fish sticks, fillets, imitation crab meat and other seafood products, the company would like to market artificially Pollock flavored tilapia in order to prepare for a declining supply of real Alaska Pollock.

Though the Pacific stock of Pollock often is called the largest wild fish source in the world, there are concerns that this fishery has started to decline as well.

Because of consumers' perception that wild fish taste different than farmed, the US fish processing industry, restaurants, fast food industry and retailers, continue to buy the more and more expensive wild caught fish. HQSM's objective is to supply less expensive raw material that taste "wild".

The company has targeted tilapia because it is an herbivores fish and therefore perceived as a more environmentally friendly fish among some consumer groups and eNGOs.

Time will tell how easy it is to trick the consumers. Hopefully, any product treated with HQSM's artificial flavoring will be labeled as such in the same way as farmed salmon is required to be labeled "artificially colored".