Far away from the toxins

Paddlefish, or spoonbill, caviar is emerging as a popular new delicacy; however, health officials are worried that a variety of toxins in the caviar—mercury, chlordane, and cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls, also known as PCBs—could be poisoning consumers. Due to harsh fishing restrictions in the Caspian Sea where Russian sturgeon is obtained, connoisseurs are turning to the Mississippi paddlefish—found in the Mississippi River and its tributaries—as a good alternative.

But, according to an Associated Press (AP) report, “Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee have issued advisories warning consumers to limit their consumption of paddlefish caviar from portions of the Mississippi, Ohio, and Tennessee rivers.” Because the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not require the river of origin to be listed on caviar labels, it is nearly impossible to determine from where the caviar was harvested.

Although some advocates of the caviar say the level of contaminants is below federal safety standards and consumers don’t generally eat enough of the caviar to become ill, others disagree. “If I were a consumer of that product, which I’m not, but if I were, I would want to know,” said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent Paul Beiriger.

The fish can grow as large as 200 pounds and are also filter feeders. This means that the fish “collect plankton by swimming with their mouths open,” according to the AP. Feeding in this way, the fish ingest unusually large concentrations of many pollutants, said Rob Mottice, a paddlefish expert at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. Commercial fishermen collect between five and 10 tons of Ohio River paddlefish annually.

Benjy Kinman, head of Kentucky’s fisheries program explained that some people may be aware of the warning, but others might not have heard anything about the growing problem. Also, some retailers may be unaware of the consumption advisories. For instance, Texas-based Whole Foods Market carries the delicacy, but was not aware of the problem and the food’s link to carcinogens. The market receives paddlefish caviar from a variety of rivers and Libba Letton, a spokeswoman for Whole Foods, said the company only learned of the consumption advisory after being contacted by The Associated Press; Whole Foods reports that the matter is now under its review.

The AP also reports that Kentucky wildlife officials are seeking authority to require caviar harvesters to provide them with sales information and is preparing to reissue its long-standing advisory warning that children and women of childbearing age should never eat the caviar, and that other healthy adults should eat it no more than six times a year. Tennessee officials went beyond a consumption advisory and banned all commercial fishing on a 30-mile stretch of the Mississippi River around Memphis after contaminants, including mercury and chlordane, were found in fish there.

The AP also reported that Linda Greer, health director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York, said, “There’s no safe level of exposure to a carcinogen,” adding, “My advice would be to err on the side of caution and not eat the paddlefish caviar.”

ZwyerCaviar delivers to you the highest quality caviar on the planet, fresh from the virgin waters of Rio Negro.

A bright sustainable future

In recent years those who enjoy caviar and its smooth, rich, and silky taste are inevitably involved in the restrictions and new trade quotas enforced every year, in order to protect the endangered species of wild sturgeons form Caspian Sea. The first bans on producers from this region had the negative effective of arousing the illegal trade and black market of wild caviar. The predictions are that this trend will continue as a result of the recent announcement of the CITES from June 2008, to increase some countries quotas to export wild sturgeon caviar as well as including few other types of caviar produced of sturgeons from the Amur River area. The Science Daily, an online source of research news, quotes specific points from the interview with the Executive Director of the Pew Institute for Ocean Science, Dr. Ellen Pikitch, who says:” we urge consumers to protest with their wallets by not purchasing any wild-caught caviar”. The CITES announcement foresees the export quotas for Caspian Sea sturgeon to remain the same as in 2007. Despite the fact that the quotas from the beginning of 2008 had set the permitted export slightly lower, additional rights have now been allocated to Turkmenistan (2,137 kg to be exported by Kazakhstan, and 40 kg by Russia). Quotas for Persian sturgeon caviar dropped to 37,000 kg from 38,000 kg and represent the only case in which a quota was voluntarily lowered.
(The Science Daily)

The article is a clear sign that alternative ways of producing caviar have to be adopted and followed, in order producers to maintain constant supply of high quality caviar and protect endangered wild species and ecosystems. Farmed caviar demands exceptional care, preparation resources, and continuous improvement of the environment, but all these efforts result in a very competitive, premium quality product. The main players on the caviar market have already established aqua farms in the US, Uruguay, and France.

The ZwyerCaviar is one of the companies following the call for conservation and environmental control. The company envisions the future of the highest class caviar in sustainable aqua farming. The company’s caviar production relies completely on the farm grown sturgeons coming from the untouched ecosystems of Rio Negro, Uruguay. The ZwyerCaviar has been exclusively produced for the Swiss market by an authorized and accredited producer under the international CITES laws and regulations, and in accordance with the European Union (PP34), US Fish and Wildlife regulatory commission (HACC), Japan and many other regulations. The ZwyerCaviar comes from a sustainable controlled and responsible aqua farming environment and is noted for its gastronomic excellence, equal only to the best from Caspian Sea.

2500 years of caviar history

Sturgeon are one of the world’s oldest species going back 250 million years, having survived the dinosaurs. Instead of scales, five rows of large bony plates or shields (called scutes) cover the Sturgeon’s leather-like skin. The scutes provide protection against predators and add to the fish’s primitive appearance. Sturgeon are one of the most ancient groups of bony fishes, a relict from the Mesozoic era. These characteristics are known from fishes present during the Devonian period, which occurred 360-408 million years ago.

The best-known Sturgeon, the Beluga with its home in the Caspian Sea, is the largest known freshwater fish (the largest one on record weighed in at 2,175kg). The first written record of caviar can be found in the journals of Batu Khan (Ghengis Khan’s grandson) dating back to the 1240s.

Noticing the decline of this valuable resource, the old Soviet Union imposed very strict controls on caviar and learnt how to spawn Sturgeon in the late eighteen hundreds, releasing the fingerlings back into the Caspian Sea. Unfortunately most of the eggs of the mature Sturgeon in the Caspian Sea are now non-fertile due to genetic malformation directly attributable to the high pollution levels.
It took 20 years of research, but in the early 1990s science finally found a way to successfully farm 2 smaller species of Sturgeon: a native of Siberia (acipenser baeri) in France and, in America, the native white Sturgeon (acipenser transmontanus). Farming enables complete control over the fish’s lifecycle and harvesting of the roe at the optimal time, guaranteeing a consistent quality and, best of all, without endangering the already depleted wild Sturgeon population.

The acipenser baeri is the only species of Sturgeon capable of feeding on food in suspension, whereas all other Sturgeon are bottom feeders. Farming Sturgeon for caviar is a risky and expensive business demanding lots of patience as it takes 2 years before the young fish’s gender can be determined and after separating the males from the females (the males for meat and the females for caviar and meat) it takes a further 6 years for the female to carry her first set of eggs.

Esturiones Del Rio Negro is so far the only Sturgeon farm in the southern hemisphere. It was built by Walter H. Alcalde Dayviere in Baygorria, the pristine lake of the Rio Negro Hydroelectric Scheme, with the help of the Russian Government (who identified this pristine and perfect breeding location by using satellite technology). The Russians assist with technical advice and farming techniques and supply personnel and Russian Sturgeon breeding stock (imported from the Lena and Ob rivers in Siberia). Esturiones Del Rio Negro utilises pontoon-floating cages at the edge of the fastest flowing water in depths of up to 10m.

ZwyerCaviar delivers to you the highest quality caviar on the planet, fresh from the virgin waters of Rio Negro.

Caviar & Champagne Picnic – with the ZwyerCaviar BlackPearl and the champagne ice box

Veuve Clicquot is coming up with innovative accessories to go with the bubbly.
Their latest innovation, an ice box in distinctive Veuve yellow skin, lets you chill your champagne when you want to – perfect for outdoor picnics during summer.
The magical chilling comes from a chemical reaction that occurs when the seal is broken, resulting in a temperature drop. And Veuve has also managed to snug in two champagne flutes for your convenience.
The only flipside is that the chemical reaction is irreversible, and lasts only a short while, and hence the Ice Box’s chilling function can only be used once. The box can still be used to house your bottle and flutes though. On a brighter note, it’s only £99 per box and is available at Selfridges.

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Illegal trade: DNA tests for caviar?

The empire strikes back! Attention to all smugglers, poachers and minds alike: beware not only cats and dogs, but the genes too. Caviar goes high-tech! The following extracts were found under braincoad.com & askmen.com:

DNA tests will be used to confirm the species of sturgeon listed on the shipment and to eliminate illegal mixtures with inferior quality roe. Even cats are now used to detect smuggled sturgeon in Russia. A cat named Rusik is able to detect sturgeon hidden in trucks better than sniffer dogs (National Post, 9 July 2003, p. A12). Read more >>

DNA testing is used to authenticate foods like caviar. Who knew that the caviar industry was so ripe with mystery, excitement and illegal activity? It’s likely that most have no idea. The choice delicacy of the affluent, caviar has for years been regulated worldwide by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (C.I.T.E.S.). C.I.T.E.S. has closely monitored stocks of caviar coming from the Caspian Sea — the body of water responsible for some 90% of the world’s caviar — in an effort to protect endangered species, particularly sturgeon caviar. As a result, DNA testing has become a staple method of authentication to ensure that incoming caviar is properly labeled and legitimate. However, quite often, testing of the DNA yields an unfortunate result. Read more >>

Caviar Pizza Selling Big In Britain

The world of fine food and luxury dining has trickled into the most casual of foods — pizza. Of course when it can be topped with anything that kind of freedom allows chefs to concoct the most outrageous of ideas into slices of heaven.

But how much would you pay for dough topped with italian chicken eggs, mozzarella, onion and Beluga caviar…say, £350?!

At Notting Hill’s Mulberry Street that is the price you’ll pay to enjoy their twenty-inch Beluga King pizza. And even though there is a credit crunch in the UK it seems the enticing ingredients are garnering wealthy customers and curious diners.

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