Filet-O-Hoki?

For those of you who thought your were eating cod or pollock or haddock when biting into that McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich, guess again. Apparently, the tasty and flaky whitefish which is the favorite amongst unadventurous seafood lovers (like myself) and a craving target for pregnant women (so says my wife) is actually hoki, a fact that I learned from a recent article which raised alarms about it's long-term sustainability.

Hoki, a fish common in New Zealand that the local Ministry of Fisheries had only a few years ago certified as sustainable, has seen allowable quotas significantly slashed. As a result, McDonald's brought down it's purchase of hoki down recently to about 11 million pounds annually from roughly 15 million pounds. Yum Brands, holding company of my beloved Long John Silver's no longer uses hoki after using it extensively in the past, opting to turn back to other whitefish.

I suppose that one of the benefits of a unrefined seafood palate is that "generic whitefish" deep fried in batter tends to taste pretty good regardless of the species.