It’s official: The fish formerly known as “Alaska Pollock” now goes by a single name. It’s just called “pollock” now. That’s according to the FDA, which today updated its list of acceptable seafood marketing names.
It matters because when “Alaska” was part of the fish name, purveyors of foreign pollock could fool consumers – with the FDA’s blessing — into thinking the fish they were buying was from Alaska when it wasn’t. Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Maria Cantwell of Washington state both claim credit for forcing the name change on the FDA with an edict in the year-end spending bill.
Now, the FDA says, only pollock caught in the waters off Alaska can be labeled “Alaska” or “Alaskan” pollock.
Liz Ruskin is the Washington, D.C., correspondent at Alaska Public Media. Reach her at lruskin@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Liz here.
