Taking Aim At 'Impostor Lobster'

Senator Says Marketing 'Langostinos' As Lobsters Costs Maine Lobstermen Millions

(AP)  What's in a name? For Maine lobstermen, tens of millions of dollars, says one senator.

Sen. Olympia Snowe, from the nation's leading lobster-producing state, Maine, wants U.S. restaurants to stop calling a type of seafood a lobster, because she says it isn't a lobster at all.

Snowe says a 2-inch shellfish known as "langostino lobster" is an impostor to the real thing, and she's asking the Food and Drug Administration to yank approval for restaurants to market the product as lobster on their menus.

"Langostino is not lobster, nor should it be marketed as such," Snowe wrote to FDA Commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach.

Langostino is Spanish for prawn, but Kristen Millar of the Maine Lobster Promotion Council says the langostino is actually a pelagic crab. To serve it up as lobster is an "insult to Maine and to the lobster industry," Millar said.

The European langostino is considered to be a lobster because it has small claws, but the jury is still out on the South American langostino, most of which comes from Chile, said Bob Bayer, executive director of Lobster Institute at the University of Maine.

The issue came to light after a California-based restaurant chain, Rubio's Fresh Mexican Grill, was sued last year by customers for using the less expensive langostino instead of lobster in its "lobster burrito."

The case was settled in April with no admission of wrongdoing by Rubio's. As part of the settlement, the Food and Drug Administration sanctioned the use of the term "langostino lobster" for the South American variety of langostino.

Millar said the term "langostino lobster" does nothing to clarify anything because consumers are getting "smushed up crab meat."

Some seafood lovers might question what all the fuss is about, but the Maine Lobster Promotion Council says it's all about giving consumers what they're paying for. It contends langostinos cost Maine fishermen $44 million in lost sales to restaurant chains since April.

Some restaurants, such as Long John Silver's and Red Lobster, have marketed langostinos as "langostino lobster," different than Maine lobster but lobster nonetheless. Long John Silver's introduced "Buttered Lobster Bites," last year which were made with langostino lobster. The chain marketed the limited-time seafood as being for people who "crave the taste of lobster, but they don't have $20 to spend."

Red Lobster and Long John Silver's didn't immediately return calls seeking comment.

Snowe, who chairs the fisheries subcommittee, said in her Sept. 25 letter the FDA would "be remiss in its duties if it continues to allow restaurants or other entities to perpetuate this hoax at the expense of Maine's lobstermen and America's seafood customers."

At Teatro Goldoni, a restaurant in Washington, D.C., master chef Fabrizio Aielli has a recipe for "couscous risotto with rock shrimp topped with a langostino."

"We just call it langostino," said Aielli, who hails from the Isle of Cipriani off the coast of Venice, Italy. "For me, it's more of a shrimp. In Italy, we call it scampi."

[eewanco]

First of all we have to look at Maine's reaction for what it is -- simply a political attempt to protect their revenue. Just like the French who will go after anyone else who dares call their sparkling wine "champagne", or uses the names of any of its cheeses, even if they are identically made. It's all about money -- do what will benefit Maine.

Personally I couldn't care less about Maine's revenue. If someone likes langostino, there should be a free market for it. That being said, there should be truth in advertising. If people eat langostino lobster they should be aware that they are eating it. If there is deception going on it should cease. You shouldn't tell someone they are eating a Maine lobster when they're eating a langostino one.

As is often the case, the truth lies somewhere between the opposite points being presented.

[jamin2011]

Senator Snowe is doing the right thing...the lobster industry is vitally important to Maine's economy and it should be protected at all costs. Just because Snowe is concerned about this issue doesn't mean she isn't concerned aobut the war in Iraq, gas prices, global warming, etc. She's obviously involved with all those issues at different levels. Oh and if it ain't a lobster, restaurants shouldn't say that it is. If I'm paying for it, I want the real thing.

[iloveusa-2009]

Last I checked, I don't want my congressmen *** up the war on terror any more than it already is, gas prices are dropping, and global warming is about as well understood by congress as string theory.
I'd be extremely pissed if my congressmen ignored a $44 million loss to one of the main industries of my state.

[moxieboy1970]

Contrary to the comments posted, IT IS imperative that Senator Snow concern herself with her home states commerce. Just recently Maine passed legislation that all lobsters that come from Maine have a label that say's "Its a real Maine Lobster". Too many grocery stores, resturants, and sea food wholesale outlets have advertised "Maine Lobsters", when in fact they have come from Canada or, god forbid, Massachusettes or Connecticut. The Maine name carries with it the knowledge that your lobster came from the cool clear waters off the Maine coast. If you have ever been to Maine and had a Lobster at the Festivals in either Portland or Rockland, you know what I mean. As an example, if you ordered Salmon from Washington State, wouldn't it just suck if you learned it came from New Jersey, Mmmm I bet that would just just like a petro chemical Plant.

[nothappyatall]

What an insanely STUPID thing for a legislator to be involved with in the midst of a WAR, global warming, high gas prices etc, get real!!