The Real Deal Rip Off Food

Food - it's big business. Now, each year,

we spend something like £5,000 per household on food and drink.

So the competition for your pound is tough.

We'll leave no shelf untouched in our quest to champion you,

the weekly shopper.

This series in which we'll be exposing the hidden rip offs

and letting you in on the tricks of the food trade.

And, most importantly, we'll show you how to be a smart shopper.

Welcome to Rip Off Food.

'Being savvy with your food shop can be enough of a minefield -

'decoding labelling and assessing nutritional value,

'without worrying if what you're buying is the real deal.

'For instance, would it occur to you that the fish you're tucking into

'could be a red herring?'

If I order cod and chips, I expect to get cod chips.

'And could extra virgin olive oil

'ever leave you with a bad taste in your mouth?'

Hopefully, it'll taste good.

'And turkey ham - not something you'd want gobble down, really.'

Turkey hearts,

which were never really designed to go into any ham products.

'But first,

'we spend around £6 billion a year on fish,

'so if we're not getting the real deal, it isn't small fry.

'I think this fishy business

'is something worth getting to the bottom of.'

Yum. Fish and chips, enjoyed every Friday night by one in six of us.

Now, I know what I'm eating, it's battered cod

and I know that for sure.

But a recent mislabelling scandal in the UK has revealed that

many of us may be munching on species of fish

that, quite frankly, we never even ordered.

'Now, in Britain, it's a case of in cod we trust

'because by far and away our favourite battered fish is cod,

'with haddock in second place.'

My favourite fish is cod.

-You like cod.

-I like cod.

-Cod?

-Cod.

White fish all tastes the same, I'm afraid.

-Haddock.

-Cod.

-Cod.

-Cod.

-Cod.

Cod, I'm afraid.

I am a bit fussy, I tend to stick to what I know.

'And if we're eating fish at home, in pies or poached,

'then salmon takes the top spot as favourite.

'So it seems we've got strong preferences and selling us short

'by mislabelling is nothing less than a disgrace.

'The story came to light because of a survey published in April 2011 -

'jointly commissioned by Greenpeace and the Sunday Times.

'Molecular ecologist Professor Carvelho tested

'a sample of fish products sold by major supermarkets.'

We sampled around 400 specimens, from a range of leading supermarkets.

The key question being,

to what degree was the label accurately describing

the contents of a particular package?

What we discovered in our study, was around 6% of those

did not contain the fish that was described on the label.

So 6% might of course not sound very much,

but when we bear in mind around 4.4 billion fish products

are consumed within the UK each year,

this represents around 260 million

potentially mislabelled fish products,

which of course can be very misleading to consumers,

and also has environmental consequences as well.

'There's no suggestion that the supermarkets

'deliberately mislabelled fish.

'And when we contacted them,

'they said that they take mislabelling very seriously,

'and had launched a full investigation,

'removed mislabelled stock from sale and instituted additional testing,

'audit and controls of their fish suppliers.

'The British Retail Consortium added that retailers operate

'to the highest standards and expect the same of their suppliers.

'If they were to identify problems now,

'urgent steps would be taken to correct them.

'But this also has implications for consumers,

'who want to make informed choices about buying sustainable fish.

'Because, ultimately, once a fish has lost its head or been cooked,

'the only way you can be 100% sure of the species

'is to look at its genetic profile.

'And that's down to scientists like Rob Ogden.'

Fish mislabelling is part of what we call

"illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing"

and that's reported to account for 20% of all fish landed,

and it's worth billions and billions of pounds each year, globally.

Within the mislabelling arena itself, the individual cases can run up

to thousands or millions of pounds worth of fraud,

and millions of pounds worth of fines.

So, although it may seem fairly trivial

whether your fish fingers are labelled properly,

it's big business and it can be big organised crime.

'Rob and his team can isolate the DNA of any fish, cooked or not.'

From an enforcement point of view, DNA is impossible to falsify,

so if we analyse the DNA from an item

we really do know what species it's come from.

'An earlier study by the Food Standards Agency found 10% of cod

'in fish and chip restaurants and takeaways was mislabelled.

'And over the last three years, Trading Standards have prosecuted

'several fish and chip shops selling a cheap substitute -

'a Vietnamese farmed river fish,

'instead of the cod advertised on their menu.

'It's extraordinary but, genetically, this river fish shares

'fewer genes in common with cod than humans share with chimpanzees.'

If we were looking at this same sequence region

in humans and chimpanzees, for example,

we might expect it to be between 90% and 95% match, whereas here,

cod on the top and Vietnamese catfish below,

which is an 81% match -

we can see that the species, although they're both fish,

are very different from an evolutionary point of view.

'So back to the important subject of what lands up on our plate.'

Now, I want to investigate the substitution of fish.

The question is, how a can a fresh water catfish from Vietnam,

called a river cobbler, be switched for a sea fish

like cod or haddock, and go unnoticed?

'First off, what does a Vietnamese catfish actually look like?

'To find a whole one, we had to make a very early morning trip

'to Billingsgate Market in London - to see fish trader, Mark Morris.'

We've got a Vietnamese catfish, known as a Pangasius.

That's the fish there, it's in its whole form.

These are mass produced in Vietnam at a very low cost,

basically, they're supplying all over the world now.

'But how does it compare with cod?'

With the Pangasius, it's more of a grey colour.

The most obvious thing with the cod, you've got this lovely bright green

but when you turn it over, you see, you get that bright white,

the muscle definition, you can see where the light catches that,

and this is where the big difference comes in

because it's a wild product -

the fish has been swimming in the north sea,

whereas the Pangasius is produced in a farm situation,

so it isn't combating against wild currents and cold seas.

These are all the things that bring out the muscle tone.

The price is where the big difference comes in.

For example, the Pangasius,

at a steady cost, produced in a low economy country,

you're looking at an average wholesale cost

of around about £2.50 a kilo for a fillet.

On the frozen cod, you're looking at round about £4.50 a kilo.

As you can see, there's almost a 100% price increase for the cod.

'And that's frozen cod, fresh cod costs even more,

'with a wholesaler's price of £7.50 a kilo.

'Now, Pangasius or Vietnamese catfish is also sold in supermarkets

'under the name river cobbler or basa.

'With the credit crunch, sales of this much cheaper white fish

'have rocketed and it's as versatile as cod.

'Three quarters of consumers say that they want to know

'if the fish they buy is sustainable.

'There's already several accreditation schemes,

'the Marine Stewardship Council, Soil Association

'and RSPCA Freedom Food, amongst others.

'There's another certification scheme

'by the Aquaculture Stewardship Council,

'which will indicate responsibly farmed fish.

'It's due to be launched in the UK in early 2013.

'And they plan to monitor and certify Pangasius.'

Purely a personal opinion is, you can't beat a bit of cod.

It needs nothing, a sprinkle of salt and pepper on top is all it needs.

Take the Pangasius, you haven't got the flavour,

you need to add a little bit of something to it.

'So I've come to Hastings on the south coast.

'It has the largest fishing fleet in Britain

'that's launched from a beach.

'We may be surrounded by sea but the quota system,

'which restricts the number of cod landed, keeps prices at a premium.

'Local skipper Paul Joy,

'a man with fishing in his blood, is going to educate me.'

Hi, Paul. Gloria. You're my man for the afternoon.

I hope so.

How long have you been fishing in this area?

Most of my working life, for about 41 years now.

And the family?

The family go back for many generations, back to the 1000s.

-So you are well qualified?

-Well, we certainly hope so.

I'm interested to know just what kind of fish on a daily basis

you're catching here?

Through the year we catch cod, plaice and sole as our main species,

and then other species in amongst it as a bi-catch.

Now let's come to the issue of quotas,

things have changed in recent times, haven't they,

-as to what you're allowed to fish?

-The rules changed in 2006.

They decided to count the fish from every small boat.

So you're telling me that every day when you come in off the sea,

that what you catch is actually checked and counted?

-Absolutely.

-Who's watching you, for example?

When we're out there,

we'll be boarded by the French and English navy,

they hire helicopters to come and film us,

they have a spotter plane comes over and when we hit the shore,

we have the Marine Management Organisation officials

checking our catch. There's more of them than us.

More checkers than fishermen.

They said there was a problem with cod,

but we've got good fish stocks here.

-My quota effectively equates to half a fish a day.

-Half a fish?

Half a cod. Well, 1.4 kilos, which is not even half a fish.

You either don't fish

or you dump that fish you catch back in the sea, dead.

So what's the highest number of cod that you've caught

and had to throw back?

It can be a tonne, 1,000 kilos a day.

We come to this quite controversial subject

about fish being substituted, so in other words,

people think they're buying cod

and in fact they're buying Vietnamese river fish, catfish.

How does all this fish get in from overseas?

It comes by container shiploads,

but...that's where the fish comes in from,

it's coming in frozen bulk.

How do you feel about the fact that people order cod and chips,

when in actual fact they get something else

and they don't even know it?

It's totally wrong because it's a cheaper substitute,

but it's deception in any other form, it's still deception,

if you're going in and you're buying cod and chips,

you should be served cod. It's as simple as that.

'Well said, Paul.

'Now shortly, we'll taste test fish and chips

'to see whether people can actually tell which fish is in their batter.'

-Tastes like cod.

-Tastes like cod.

That don't taste like cod to me.

'An even more popular take-away than fish and chips these days

'is the pizza.

'On average, a person will eat 368 takeaway pizzas over a lifetime.'

-Pizza's always a good takeaway.

-Nice and tasty, it's easy.

Pizzas, I very like, that's my takeaway.

'And one survey found that some have been sold with toppings

'that are completely fake.'

Now, takeaway pizza can be a real family treat.

But what happens when you get the right pizza as ordered

but the wrong topping for the strangest of reasons?

'Last year, a Trading Standards survey made a shocking discovery

'when they analysed cheese and ham pizzas from takeaways in Derby.

'They found that nine out ten cheese and ham pizzas

'didn't have real ham on them at all!

'It was no surprise to trading standards expert David Pickering.'

Substitution and what you can call food fraud

has been around for hundreds of years.

Wherever you can find a way of substituting a cheaper material

for something that people are willing to pay for,

food fraud sadly will probably be with us

until it gets to a point where it's actually not profitable.

'In the case of the pizza investigated,

'the "ham" was actually reformed turkey -

'hard believe nobody complained.'

If I bought a ham pizza and I found out that the ham

was reformed turkey meat, then I'd be really disappointed.

I'd be shocked, actually.

Very upset.

I would be surprised. I wouldn't expect that.

I think that one issue for the shopper is

that they think they're buying a particular type of product,

whereas they're not. And if they have the choice,

if actually they knew what they were buying,

the shopper could then make the choice around

whether they want to pay for that particular product

or if they want to go to another catering establishment

that might be selling the proper product itself.

'But what on earth is reformed turkey?

'Butcher Danny's going to show us just how different it is

'from proper ham.'

So you couldn't get much further from traditional English free range ham

than reformed turkey.

Reformed turkey may well find ingredients like,

things like turkey neck,

which is great for things like stews and stocks

but also does have a lot of bone and gristle.

Not ideal for ham.

Things like the turkey livers,

which have great flavours inside them as well

but, again, not ideal for sandwiches and that sort of thing.

And turkey hearts,

which are never really designed to go into any sort of ham products.

And from this stage, it's basically going to go into a big mixer

and get cut down into really fine pieces and made into sort of pulp.

A bit like toothpaste.

When it's like that, they add in the flavours, the colourings,

things to make it look like the appearance of ham,

and form it into a sort of mould.

It's then cooked and cooled down and then sliced

and then it's ready to put into packets.

'So nine out ten pizzas in the Derby survey had a turkey topping

'and only one was the real deal - ham like this.'

So this is the leg of pork, which is the back leg,

the hind leg of the pig.

It's basically got all the bones in it and the skin on it, at the moment.

From this stage, we take the bones out

and then we're up with the shape like this, which is more cylinder shape.

It's still got the skin on it

and then from this stage, salt would be added, or a brine,

and then it'd be boiled or cooked,

and then you'd have the end result of ham.

So as the pork's been cooked, we now have ham.

With ham, you can see the different colours of the muscles.

The added salt makes a slightly pinker colour.

This is a good traditional ham.

I am surprised people can't tell the difference

between a turkey and a ham on the pizzas.

But when it's disguised with the different and toppings,

it could be quite difficult.

'But the survey didn't just find fake ham, they also found that

'two out the ten pizzas had a cheese substitute -

'something called analogue cheese. Now that one's a new one on me.

'So I'm going to get the low down from our scientist,

'Peter Maynard, a man well used to weeding out fake foods.'

Analogue cheese is cheese that's been made not using cow's milk

or buffalo milk or used milk or whatever milk.

It's made using vegetable oil instead.

So it's a lot cheaper

and therefore it's a way of takeaway owner saving money.

And that would be the main reason for using it in the pizzas?

Of course. Saving money.

And is this the machine that you would normally test the cheese in?

Yes, it is.

So the first thing to do is to take some of the fat out of the cheese,

and we then add a chemical to it and then we inject it on this machine,

and this would tell us what kind of fat is in there.

Whether it's a vegetable fat or whether it's animal fat,

because there are quite significant differences between the two.

So how long would that take you to get results?

We generally run this machine overnight,

do the extraction one day and look at the results the next day.

So short of living with you, Peter, for the next 24 hours,

I won't know what the machine says.

So, in fact, one of our researchers has prepared cheese on toast.

-Are you going to taste a bit?

-Yeah, I'll taste a bit.

-Mmm.

I can taste nothing but bread, if I'm being honest.

You're quite right.

If it's cheese, it's certainly not very mature, is it?

Couldn't honestly tell you, hand on heart,

couldn't tell you what kind of cheese it is, could you?

No, no. I couldn't either.

'So analogue cheese is pretty tasteless

'and perhaps that's why consumers didn't notice.

'But some dairy substitutes can include nuts or nut oil

'and that could cause serious problems for people with allergies.'

So if you think,

"Actually, this cheese isn't really what I thought it should be"

then ask the take away

and they should be able to give you a full ingredients list,

and they should be able to tell you what that cheese or that ham

or what that particular topping is and what it contains.

And if you've got allergy issues,

then that can be really important as well.

'Some premium products come with added benefits -

'ranging from health enhancing properties

'to extraordinary flavours.

'Now extra virgin olive oil is one example -

'but do we really understand what we should look out for

'to get these qualities and make sure we're getting value for money?

'We buy 28 million litres of olive oil every year,

'much of it well known brands like these -

'and our consumption has doubled over the course of a decade.

'The best quality is cold pressed extra virgin olive oil.'

I do buy extra virgin olive oil because, for a start, it tastes good.

It's used for cooking. It's slightly purer, I believe.

The word extra, I suppose, makes me think that

it's better than standard virgin oil. I don't know. I don't know why.

I know you can get very high quality stuff,

which like wine or anything of that nature, the sky's the limit.

I do, I cook with virgin oil for everything from stir-frys

to frying my sausages in the morning.

'But what makes extra virgin olive oil so special?

'Importer and expert Michael North

'is a passionate advocate of this amber nectar.'

Olive oil, from ancient times, was the staff of life.

We used it for the heating system, for driving industry,

we didn't even think about eating it,

but later on in life we started to eat it, after we put it on our skin,

and then later in life, we're actually putting it on our food.

So the "centre of the universe" in inverted commas, if you like,

is and still will be olive oil.

'Extra virgin olive oil must be cold pressed -

'so no heat or chemicals can be used to speed up the extraction

'of the oil from the olive.'

Some of the health benefits are the best because they're fresh.

The healthy bits die off.

A quick example would be polyphenols, these are the bits

that are good for you, we're trying to isolate them.

We can't make any medical claims but, for example,

the Americans, they have put in the FDA,

which is the Federal Drug Authority,

that if you take two tablespoons of olive oil a day

in replacement of saturated fat,

it will help to alleviate future problems

like heart diseases or cancers.

'The average cost of a litre bottle of extra virgin olive oil is £7.50

'but single estate bottles can go up to even £50 a litre.'

Extra virgin olive oil can be very expensive

but the health benefits, the distinctive taste and smell

make it absolutely ideal for use on salad dressings.

Only pure extra virgin olive oil has all these unique qualities.

Experts believe that we're not always being sold the real deal.

'Stuart Shotton is an ex-Trading Standards Officer

'turned food consultant.

'Adulterated olive oil is a Europe wide problem

'and in 2011, Europol launched a major sting called Operation Opsom.'

In relation to olive oil, what they found

in the course of their week long investigation

were 13,000 substandard bottles of olive oil.

It could potentially be a huge issue.

For the sake of one weeks' worth of investigation,

to actually find 13,000 bottles of substandard olive oil.

Usually you'd say it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack -

that would tend to suggest otherwise.

'If suspect oils do get into the country.

'they may be reported to Trading Standards,

'who would have them checked by a public analyst like Peter Maynard.'

We will basically test those samples

which are sent in by Trading Standards,

who will have a suspicion that the sample has been adulterated

or indeed, substituted entirely.

So no one test can tell you it's adulterated or not.

But a battery of tests which, between them, should be able to tell

what is adulterated and what is not adulterated.

Why is it so difficult to tell if it's pure or not?

Because they use very similar oils to adulterate the olive oil.

For instance, the usual one is hazelnut oil,

which is cheaper than extra virgin olive oil.

Is that what's in the other container? Is that this one?

-This is the hazelnut oil.

-Mmm.

Actually, it's quite a strong smell.

It does have quite a strong smell, so you can't use a lot of it.

But possibly 10%, you can add to your olive oil

and therefore you'll save yourself 5% of the cost,

and that's all profit, of course.

When you say the Trading Standards ask you to test certain olive oils,

is that because maybe a customer has complained

-or do they do random testing or...?

-Yes, they do both.

And how often will that happen?

We may have no samples for months on end.

Then we may have ten samples in one month. Just depends.

Well, let's have a look at the process.

This is the extra virgin olive oil.

OK.

So, if I add about 10% of the hazelnut oil.

-As you can see, it mixes...

-Mixes well.

-..without any problem whatsoever.

-The colour hasn't changed.

The colour hasn't changed significantly.

-Can't even get a whiff of it.

-There we are.

Actually, that is quite extraordinary.

Not even a glimmer of hazelnut.

And yet, the hazelnut oil by itself, that's quite an odour.

So 10% then would... They could get away with 10%?

They could certainly get away with 10%.

There are no tests available that will tell you

whether an oil is adulterated with 10% of hazelnut oil.

So there's nothing that you can do?

Nothing that we can do that will confirm that.

When you get to much more than 10%,

then there are tests that we can do.

Where do you think that the shopper is likely to find

an adulterated olive oil?

It'll be the cheaper end of the market.

When you get the top brands, which are named brands,

then you're unlikely to have a problem

because the people who make these olive oils

know exactly where all their olive oil comes from.

'And if what you get is a diluted or adulterated version of an olive oil,

'you could be missing out on some amazing flavours.'

One thing we never do is look at the actual colour of an olive oil.

Never, never, never look at the colour

because that is no indication of quality or taste, whatsoever.

The nose is clean.

Hopefully, it'll taste good.

HE SLURPS

Asparagus, creams and butter.

Little bit of bitterness coming in now,

here comes the pepper kick at the back.

'With shelves heaving with alternatives,

'how do consumers choose the best one?'

-It's got to look fairly trendy and authentic.

-Authentic.

-Yeah.

I tend to be swayed by the brand. I know there are certain ones

that are supposed to be better than others.

The only thing I look for is the price.

If it's a cheaper one that's extra virgin, that's the one I buy.

'As you might imagine, Michael has some pointers on this.

'First, extra virgin olive oil should ideally be used

'within six months of harvesting.'

Olive oil, being a fruit juice, needs to be fresh,

but there are no rules on how long it can be kept on a shelf.

'Only with the top of the price range

'will you see a clear harvest date marked, as well as a best before -

'so that you know exactly how fresh the oil is.

'But if there's only a best before date,

'well, you can't be so sure of its age.'

What happens is, it may be kept in tanks for years

and then the best before date is the bottling date,

which is when it's actually bottled. There lies a problem.

'And lastly, something you can spot at glance.'

Must be in a dark bottle, must, must, must, no other choice,

because ultraviolet light kills the olive oil.

'It's not just light that kills off the health benefits,

if you're using extra virgin olive oil to cook with,

'you may be watching some of those fine qualities go up in smoke.'

Now, there's some much cheaper and excellent alternatives for cooking

and I'm glad to say that one is a great British home grown product,

that recently has emerged as a real competitor

to extra virgin olive oil.

'Rapeseed has traditionally been used to make

'mass produced vegetable oils.

'But at Hill Farm in Suffolk, Sam Fairs realised

'that it might have greater potential.'

We can see on this plant here where the yellow flowers are at the top

and every flower has produced me a pod.

You can see in the pod here, all the little seeds in the pod.

Very, very small and immature at the moment,

because of this time of year. But as the plant grows

and as the pods will get longer and the seeds will get bigger

and become nice little black seeds that we know as rapeseed.

We started growing rapeseed on our farm probably 30-35 years ago now.

Just as another crop.

It was ten years ago, a friend of mine's father had high cholesterol

and he said to me that he'd been advised to go on to

rapeseed oil capsules to help lower the cholesterol.

And it struck a chord with me really and I just thought, "Well, why?"

I grow all this rapeseed oil and yet I don't know what's good about it.

And it just suddenly struck us really and said

"Well, why is there not a cold pressed extra virgin rapeseed oil?

"You know, there's an olive oil and you can buy these other,

"you know, other fancy oils and things but why not the rapeseed oil?"

'Sam was the first farmer in Britain to commercially produce

'extra virgin rape seed oil.'

This here is about 50 tonnes of rapeseed that we combined last July.

Each seed is 45% oil, that's how we measure it.

So it's nearly half oil, really.

'Turning an industrial product into a premium choice was a huge leap.

'But what Sam knew was that his extra virgin rapeseed oil

'could take on the opposition.'

From the olive oil point of view, I've always said that

it's part of a Mediterranean diet and it's very healthy for you.

And, yes, it has certain aspects to it that are healthy.

From a saturated fat point of view, rapeseed is 6.5% saturated fat

and olive oil is between 12 and 14.

Now saturated fat is really the worst part to an oil

and it is the rapeseed that has the lowest saturated fat content

out of any other oil that we've come across.

'The way the oil is processed is key.

'In order to retain those health benefits

'the seeds have to be cold pressed.'

So this is where the machine is doing a corkscrew

and it really just squeezes the seed really hard

and that's when the oil the drops out.

And this is the meal that's left over.

Now the oil is hopefully dropping into the tank

so that we can filter it.

'This family based outfit produce 300,000 bottles a year

'of a premium price extra virgin rape seed oil.

'And Sam claims that rape seed oil has another advantage

'over many competitors.'

The thing about cold pressed rape seed oil,

is it has a higher burn point than something like...

Well, flax you wouldn't cook with at all,

but extra virgin olive oil has a lower burn point

so when you roast your potatoes in olive oil,

quite often people open the oven door a bit like that,

because the first thing they get is a cloud of smoke.

That's because the oil's burnt because it's too hot.

With rape seed oil, it doesn't do that and you can therefore,

you can heat it higher when you're roasting your potatoes

or doing Yorkshire Puddings or frying an egg.

So you can see now we've put the egg in, how hot the oil was,

and that wasn't burning or steaming or anything.

And what I like to do now is put a lid over the top

and then that will cook the yolk, or the top of the yolk,

so you get the perfect runny egg.

Look at that, that's perfect fresh egg.

'Good tip.

'Now the oil of choice for drizzling over my salads will still be

'the fabulous flavours and qualities in extra virgin olive oil.

'But extra virgin rape seed oil is a good alternative for cooking.

'Here I am, back in Hastings at a fish restaurant -

'a good one where the provenance of all the fish is guaranteed genuine.

'Now we've looked at evidence that in some cases

'fish and chip shops have sold cod or haddock that turned out to be

'another, often cheaper species like Vietnamese catfish.

'But how good are the public at recognising

'their favourite fish supper and can they spot a rogue in batter?

'Chef Paul Webbe is going to help me find out

'by setting up a blind taste test that I'll try out on the locals.'

So, Paul, as the owner of this restaurant,

you know a lot about fish

and you're helping us prepare our tasting.

You have three varieties. Maybe give me a rundown of what you have.

This is the catfish and I've got to confess,

I've never used this before in my life.

So you're just doing it for us really for filming?

-This is the stuff here from Vietnam?

-This is.

-Different colour. I mean, pinky, isn't it?

-It is.

What I think the problem is, once you cut it up quite small,

you put it into the batter, then the fish looks the same.

OK. But we can distinguish the difference by the colour.

-And this is?

-This is cod.

-Cod, very popular.

-And?

-And this is haddock.

-The haddock.

-Much darker flesh.

Is haddock more expensive than the cod?

-It's pretty much on a par with cod.

-Mmm, OK.

So you're going to prepare bite size pieces so that we can see how...?

We are, we are going to create some little goujons.

Yes. You know how sometimes some fish ends up in certain

fish and chip shops as sort of like very greasy

and it gives a feeling of it being really fatty?

What's the secret in doing it properly, having crisp batter

but having it nice and dry?

You need to cook at very hot temperatures.

And although we shun...we say fried food isn't good,

it's actually a fantastic way of cooking fish

because it traps all the moisture, and that's why it's so nice.

Lovely crispy batter.

You don't want too much batter either, just enough to coat the fish.

Right, we'll cook the catfish first.

'When it smells delicious and it's perfectly cooked

'can Paul tell that it's catfish and, more importantly, can I?'

I'd love you to taste, if you wouldn't mind,

the catfish from Vietnam.

Because as you rightly say,

once it's inside the batter it all kind of looks the same.

It's OK. It's not...you couldn't compare it to the cod.

-Has it got little taste?

-It's very soft.

-Oh, soft?

And it's not that pure white you get with lovely fresh cod.

No. It's very hot, is it?

It's nowhere near the texture.

-Exactly, got no taste at all.

-No. No, it's very bland.

'So I'm going to take Paul's goujons

'and test out consumer reactions.'

There's nothing like being on a beach

on a beautiful sunny day like this, to do a bit of fish tasting.

The question is, how good are the British

at differentiating between their fish?

I'm not going to tell you what they are first of all,

but I'd love you to taste them in turn.

'On the left on the blue napkin is cod,

'in the middle, it's haddock and on the right is Vietnamese catfish.

'First, they try cod, the nation's favourite fried fish.'

What do you think that is?

-Cod, I think.

-You think that's cod?

I'm not sure if it's right English word, shellfish?

-Cod.

-Cod.

I've had this before.

-Tastes like cod.

-Taste like cod, OK.

That don't taste like cod to me.

It's got a shellfish taste to it, but I'm not sure what it is.

Shellfish, OK.

'Only four out of nine spotted the national favourite.

'Next, haddock, the second most popular fried fish -

'is it any more recognisable?'

-Cod!

-Cod, OK.

-Is that the haddock?

You think this one's haddock?

-That's really very bland.

-That one's haddock.

-Tastes the same.

-Tastes the same. You think it's the same? OK.

-Deb?

-I'm finding it very hard.

'Only two could spot a haddock in batter.

'And, last, the Vietnamese catfish, will a river fish stand out?

-I think that's plaice.

-Plaice?

-Cod.

-Cod.

-I think that's cod again.

-You think that's cod again.

-I don't recognise that one at all.

-They're all a bit similar.

That hasn't got as much flavour as those two.

What, this one doesn't? No.

'No-one knew what it was or particularly disliked

'the taste of the catfish.

'Until they heard about the price difference.'

What if I told you that the catfish there at the end

is roughly half the price of the proper cod?

-I would be, I would feel...

-Annoyed.

-..Annoyed.

Yeah, I would be annoyed.

Particularly if you don't know that you're getting catfish.

That's it, yeah.

They're deceiving customers as well at the same time.

If they're charging the same and it should be half the price,

they're definitely having a rip off. I'd like to strangle the person.

THEY LAUGH

-I wouldn't mind.

-You wouldn't mind? Why not?

I don't know, I just wouldn't mind.

You've got too much money to burn, you!

How would you feel if you ordered cod, paid for cod, and you got that?

If I order cod and chips, I expect to get cod and chips.

'Too right! We pay a premium price for cod -

'a fish so popular, that supplies have been depleted.

'Now there's good news for fishermen like Paul

'because the EU have announced an end to the practice

'of throwing cod back into the sea when accidentally caught.

'The change is scheduled to be phased in from January 2015.

'In the meantime, why don't we look to some of our local species

'that are just as good as cod.'

Now, Paul, on this programme we also try give good tips

about shopping and how to save a bit of money.

Now you seem to be a man encouraging a wider variety of fish,

so how would you demonstrate that?

The gurnard is a marvellous fish, it's very firm textured.

-What does it taste like?

-It's a very unique flavour.

It's very similar to monk but it's got a slightly...

Similar to monkfish, I like monkfish.

-As you say, it's not a very pretty fish.

-No.

So is this really cheap to buy?

-Yes. And very, very good eating.

-Really?

-And how would you normally cook it?

-Me, I fry almost everything.

You fry it? Yeah, lovely.

So is that a stronger flavour than cod, for example?

You can always sushi it and try it raw if you like.

No, I'm not good at that. Do you eat it raw all the time?

It's absolutely good to eat raw, as long as it's fresh.

All right then, give me a bit.

And it's very, very tasty.

Do you know, you're right, that is very good.

Very, very good actually.

So mislabelling IS fooling the customer.

Replacing an expensive fish with a much cheaper version

like river cobbler from Vietnam IS a rip off.

But, you know, as Paul says, maybe if we widen our taste in fish

and just try a whole new variety, we could save

-a lot of money in the long run, couldn't we, Paul?

-Absolutely.

That's what this programme's all about.

'When a top of the range product is scarce, it creates an opportunity

'for any rogue importer to jump in and claim the premium price.'

'Now the rice in this shop is the real deal

'but nationwide, Trading Standards officers know

'that even this commonplace store cupboard essential

'can be the target for unscrupulous importers.'

What we're doing is, working with people like the Food Standards Agency

to try to gather intelligence

and really try to stay as close as we can to potential food frauds.

So for instance, if the basmati rice harvest fails

then, potentially, that'll mean that there will be substitution

because there will still be that demand for it

and people will see a potential profit element to it.

'You may be surprised to hear that there's an association

'for pretty much every premium food

'and Alex Waugh is Director of the Rice Association.'

There are, in fact, several hundred different kinds of rice in the world.

We don't eat that many of them

but they're all there and they all have different qualities.

Basmati is particularly long, fine grain.

Basmati rice can only come from a certain area

and the basmati region is the northern part of India

and across into Pakistan, the Punjabi plains.

It has to be harvested a little later for that fragrance to develop.

And then it has to be stored for a year

to maintain that high quality you get,

with every grain separate once it's cooked.

It's a very low yielding crop and the farmers have to take

special care of it, which is why it's a bit more expensive.

'In supermarkets, you're likely to pay about a third more

'for basmati rice than ordinary long grain.

'But it's got a lot to recommend it, as chef Ahmed Ali knows.'

I prefer it because it has the really nice fragrance in it

and the colour also comes out really nice and looks really good,

and, for my personal taste, I like basmati as well,

so this is what I eat at home.

Because when you pick it up, you should see

the rice in one colour and it shouldn't be broken or anything.

Basmati always should be a whole grain rice.

'Over the last year, the number of cases where this distinctive rice

'have been found to be fake have more than doubled -

'26 consignments were rejected at the border.

'But the odds are, that some may get through.'

It's difficult to quantify what the impact of cheating

in the basmati market is.

But the real losers are the farmers themselves

because it's their premium product, which they invest a lot of time

and effort into growing, which is being devalued.

If consumers buy cheap rice, which is labelled as basmati,

then they're perhaps being a little bit naive.

If something looks too cheap to be true, it probably is.

'When you do buy the real deal

'it's all too easy to spoil it in the cooking. So watch this.'

With basmati, you don't have to soak it.

What you do is, you wash it thoroughly with warm water

so you don't have to soak it.

If it's a cup of rice, you put a cup of water.

'Equal amounts of rice and water into the pan.'

That's it for ten minutes. You put it on a full mark.

And after ten minutes,

we'll slow it down for another three to four minutes.

The water should be completely evaporated

and that's how you'll know the rice is cooked.

There you are, a perfect portion of basmati rice.

So if you're shelling out a little bit more for something premium,

never assume that price equals quality.

Remember the old adage "buyer beware"

and never ever pay over the odds for anything,

unless you are sure it's absolutely the real deal.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd