Shark industry alliance asks diners: Is your flake fake?

An industry group has raised concerns that piscine portions being sold as flake in local fish and chip shops may not be the real deal.

Is your flake really flake or a cheap imported substitute? Picture: Stuart Milligan

CHEAP imported shark is being sold as flake in local fish and chip shops and those cooking up the real deal say it is time the rules were policed.

The Southern Shark Industry Alliance recent wrote to a large number of fish and chip shops reminding them that under the Australian Fish Naming Standard the name flake should only be used for Australia’s gummy (mustelus antarcticus) shark and New Zealand’s rig (mustelus lenticulatus) sharks.

It is illegal to engage in conduct that is purposefully misleading or deceptive and the SSIA says it believes substituting other fish and calling it flake is likely to constitute such behaviour.

Fresh flake fillets for sale.

It will now pass on samples of “fake flake” to Australia’s competition watchdog.

Will Mure, the owner of Hobart seafood business Mures, said there was no evidence of fish and chip sellers in Tasmania purposely misleading customers.

But he said he was certain cheap shark product was being sold as flake in this state.

“I like to think it is due to a lack of education on the rules rather than intentional misleading conduct but there is no doubt a lot of different products are being passed off as flake,” Mr Mure said.

“The law is not policed but it should be. It is also time to bring in country of origin labelling for seafood — something the industry has been calling for for a long time.”

Mr Mure said it was not a lack of gummy shark driving the substitution but price.

“True flake is double or triple the price of imported shark,” he said.

“There are also fishery sustainability issues around that imported product.”

The SSIA said the ACCC had vast investigative and infringement powers and fines as high as $500,000 per offence for individuals or $10,000,000 for corporations could be applied if misleading conduct was proved.

The association said it would also be looking into the sale of flathead and if consumers were being duped in regard to that species.