Basa Fish
Basa fish is the catfish, irridescent shark or river cobbler. It is a white fish which is as good as any other white fish.
Read here for more details of the cleanliness of the waters basa fish is bred in. The problem has arisen because fish and chip shop owners in the UK have been passing off basa as cod. I was in my local supermarket the other week and saw a pack of fish labelled 'river cobbler'. A gentleman was looking at the fish - it was very reasonably priced - and said that he'd had some the week before and it was really tasty. He didn't know what it was though and I suggested he ask at the fish counter as I didn't have time to get into a discussion about 'what is basa?' There's no doubt that basa is a good substitute for any white fish recipes. As a raw fillet, it looks different from cod - it is slightly pinker and doesn't flake. Once it's cooked and battered the difference is hard to tell - add salt, vinegar, chips and mushy peas and there's no chance! However, the difficulty arises in the price. Basa is less than half the price of cod. So - the prosecutions have arisen, not because of the quality of the fish, but because of the price. As of July 2009, cod was costing £11.75 a kilo (wholesale price) and basa £5 a kilo. That's a big difference - and if the saving is passed onto the customer, there would have been no problem. Basa tastes good and is very suitable for battering and deep frying. These shops that are facing prosecution did not pass on the information nor the savings. In the recession, food fraud is becoming a big problem. It is being doctored, particularly in restauarants where it would be hard to tell what you're being served. Economies are being made on such things as substituting cheap alternatives for free-range eggs, organic vegetables, virgin olive oil and the like. It is not easy to spot if a premium product has been swapped or mixed with a cheaper one. There may or may not be health risks, but there is most definitely a financial fraud taking place.
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