Vietnamese Catfish

[Barbara]

I have long bought something called "Baha Filets" at my local Safeway. Didn't know quite was this was, but knew that it was a mild-tasting fish that was fairly versatile. Then, I learned that it is a type of farmed catfish. However, American catfish farmers didn't want it to be called that. Thus, the name "Baha." Whatever.

Yesterday, I found a one-pound bag of frozen something at Trader Joe's. It was called "White Ruffy." HUH? Right next to it were frozen packages of "Orange Roughy," a fish we are all familiar with. Which cost at least twice as much.

I threw the bag in the refrigerator to thaw overnight and, when I opened it, I recognized it as Vietnamese catfish. A careful examination of the barely-legible print on the bag said that was indeed Vietnamese farmed fish. EXCEPT, that it was also called "Bocourti." It cooked up just fine and was perfectly fresh-tasting.

Who can explain to the ignorati, such as I, just what is going on with the labeling of farmed fish from Vietnam?

[lizzie]

"Basa" is the correct term. Several years ago, in one of several efforts undertaken by US catfish farmers to regain a market lost to very low priced Vietnamese catfish, the farmers were successful in having a bill pass Congress that required all Vietnamese catfish to be labeled as basa, reserving the label "catfish" for U.S. produced fish from the family Ictaluridae. An antidumping duty order was imposed on the Vietnamese fish at about the same time. Ruffy or bocourti are another names applied to Vietnamese catfish.

[mdt]

Any sort of info on the how these fish are farmed? I remember reading all sorts of nasty news about farm raised fish from various points in the world.

ETA: I did some Google searches and did not find any bad news about the quality of the Vietnamese fish, which is good.

[lizzie]

Attached is a report done by the International Trade Commission in 2003 which describes the US and Vietnamese industries (http://www.usitc.gov/trade_remedy/731_ad_701_cvd/investigations/2002/fish_fillets/final/PDF/pub3617.pdf). There is not much information on farming the fish in Vietnam, although there was in other submissions made as part of this investigation. The trade investigation that looked at farmed shrimp in several of Asian and Latin American countries included much more about the antibiotics added to the ponds where the shrimp are raised. The European Union closely monitors such levels in any imports in those countries. Less has been heard about it in the US.

[laniloa]

You rang?

Lizzie has the basics right. The key problem was that the Senate chose to ratify a free trade agreement with Vietnam. Several weeks later, Congress decided to make it a little less then free trade and restrict the label catfish to only one of the 35 scientifically recognized families of catfish. It is the only animal described in US law. A side effect was that the US lost the ability to challenge at the WTO a similar sardine restriction that was being levied against US fishermen at the time and had previously successfully challenged a scallop restriction the French lobbed at US scallops as not being worthy of coquilles st. jacques. Nothing in the law prevents the Vietnamese from raising that same family favored by the U.S. catfish growers.

The Vietnamese reverted to local names like basa and bocourti and a few others. They were then able to do some niche marketing and actually increased their share of the fillet market. So the US catfish farmers filed a dumping claim. And won.

As far as farming practices, a U.S. inspection team reviewed a variety of Vietnamese facilities and gave them very high marks.

Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall.

[Barbara]

You rang?

Lizzie has the basics right. The key problem was that the Senate chose to ratify a free trade agreement with Vietnam. Several weeks later, Congress decided to make it a little less then free trade and restrict the label catfish to only one of the 35 scientifically recognized families of catfish. It is the only animal described in US law. A side effect was that the US lost the ability to challenge at the WTO a similar sardine restriction that was being levied against US fishermen at the time and had previously successfully challenged a scallop restriction the French lobbed at US scallops as not being worthy of coquilles st. jacques. Nothing in the law prevents the Vietnamese from raising that same family favored by the U.S. catfish growers.

The Vietnamese reverted to local names like basa and bocourti and a few others. They were then able to do some niche marketing and actually increased their share of the fillet market. So the US catfish farmers filed a dumping claim. And won.

As far as farming practices, a U.S. inspection team reviewed a variety of Vietnamese facilities and gave them very high marks.

Excuse me while I go bang my head against the wall.

Hey, Girl. I was wondering what took you so long.

Whatever this stuff is, I prefer it to "catfish." While it isn't as versatile as many other fish, like flounder or orange roughy, and can't hold a candle to halibut, I much prefer it to domestic "catfish." Milder flavor, nicer texture, whatever. What threw me for a loop was the label "White Ruffy" and (in smaller type) "Bocourti." I had never seen these terms before.

I'm very glad to know that the Vietnamese are farming fish in a way that isn't Icky, to use a scientific term.

My next question is: How do you tell the difference between scallops which are "Dry" frozen and the other, unacceptable, ones? Chef Wabeck told me about the difference, but not how to figure out the good from the bad (since he gets supplied from different sources than Trader Joe's or the Safeway).

[laniloa]

Was out of town. This job has a lot of travel and far fewer conference calls which seriously interferes with my board time!

Basically, you can make up any name for a food product in the US except one that could be challenged as misleading because it is used for something else. You couldn't call a catfish (even one from the proper family) a lobster. Not even a delta lobster.

There are a lot of regional names that get tricky. Rockfish on the west coast is decidedly different then rockfish for you guys and it could be successfully challenged if you tried to sell striped bass as rockfish in California without a qualifier like Atlantic rockfish or Chesapeake rockfish. Or you could just call it George. There are a lot of made up "marketable" names in the fish game. Orange roughy, Chilean sea bass, krab.

As for scallop selection, not eating the beasts I'll have to defer to someone else!

[Barbara]

There are a lot of made up "marketable" names in the fish game. Orange roughy, Chilean sea bass, krab.

Yes, I understand that "Chilean Sea Bass" was originally called "Patagonian Tooth Fish." Sounds good to me.

[mdt]

Whatever this stuff is, I prefer it to "catfish." While it isn't as versatile as many other fish, like flounder or orange roughy, and can't hold a candle to halibut, I much prefer it to domestic "catfish." Milder flavor, nicer texture, whatever. What threw me for a loop was the label "White Ruffy" and (in smaller type) "Bocourti." I had never seen these terms before.

Is it tasteless? Domestic farm raised catfish has just about no flavor and this is milder? When you say nicer texture do you mean 'bigger' flakes of meat?

Yes, I understand that "Chilean Sea Bass" was originally called "Patagonian Tooth Fish." Sounds good to me.

Really?

[Barbara]

Is it tasteless? Domestic farm raised catfish has just about no flavor and this is milder? When you say nicer texture do you mean 'bigger' flakes of meat?

It's been some time since I've eaten any domestic farm-raised catfish, so I can't really answer this. In terms of taste, it is right about where Tilapia is, and I generally cook them the same way; i.e., dredge in flour and saute and then sauce them with something or other. That is what I mean by "versatile." What I haven't tried yet is to smoke either of these fish in my stove-top smoker. I need to get around to that and see what comes of it.

Great pic!