Why isn’t surimi called surimi in North America?
You know how there are some silly things that JUST BOTHER YOU?? This is one of mine.
I have wondered for years why, in North America (as far as I have seen) consumer food markets, with exception of some Asian markets perhaps, never label “surimi” as “surimi” on packages of surimi??? In fact I have many times ordered some surimi displayed at supermarket fish counters and the employees didn’t
know what I was talking about. Yet if you go to a seafood show,
companies selling surimi identify it as such. “Surimi” is an easy Japanese word to pronounce in the official North American languages of English, Spanish and French, and in most other languages as well, and the product was invented 900 years ago.
So why doesn’t the FDA, and the equivalent governmental agency of Canada (I’m not sure about Mexico) not require “surimi” as the identity of the product, on packages (and deli/fish counter trays when/where sold bulk) of the stuff?? “Surimi” could be modified by currently used words.
The FDA does require product identification on its packaging. The main reason “surimi” is not put on the label as such, is that it is a composite fish product.
If you take a look at Velveeta, a US cheese product, you will note it is not a true cheese, Cheese is aged and Velveeta is not aged, so advertisers call it Pasteurized Processed Cheese Food. It’s an FDA ruling.
Surimi is a pulverized fish product and can be made with a variety of fish, such as Alaska pollock, Pacific whiting, milkfish, swordfish, Tilapia, Big-headed pennah croaker and several others. According to FDA rulings each fish has to be listed on the label.
Surimi literally means ground meat in Japanese. Americans who are allergic to crustaceans can enjoy artificial crab legs because they are made from Surimi.
Hope this explains our reluctance to use surimi on labels. We do use ground Alaskan pollock on labels.
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