Traditionally, most families in the UK have fish on Good Friday. But not every fish species that we find on fresh fish counters, on the menu at a restaurant or in shelves at the supermarket is doing well. Many are threatened by overfishing.

barcoo can help you find out which species are threatened. Simply scan the barcode on the packaging or, when buying frish fish or at a restaurant, type in the name of the fish (e.g. pangasius or plaice) to get information about that fish species.

This Easter, try to preserve biodiversity in the oceans so future generations can enjoy them as we did.

Happy Easter!

First and foremost: With regard to radio activity at the moment we (in Europe) can eat all food from Japan without hesitation:

• The percentage of food imports from Japan amounts in Europe to a mere .1%. Typical Japanese food like shiitake mushrooms don’t actually come from Japan, but grow in European greenhouses. The sushi consumed in Europe only rarely comes from the North Pacific.
• There is no way that potentially contaminated food could already be in Europe. Fish from Japanese waters end up on the German market no sooner than three months after being caught (according to the Bundesverband der deutschen Fischindustrie).
• Soy sauces (the most significant foodstuff import from Japan) mature in barrels and are thus safe to consume for at least another year (according to the Verbraucherzentrale Hamburg).

So there’s no reason to panic for the time being. However, some believe that in the long term there will be a danger for us European consumers. That’s why with barcoo you can find out, for example, where that fish you want to buy comes from. All you have to do is type in the catch area number and then you receive information about whether the fish comes from the North Pacific or not. At this point you can take the opportunity to see whether the type of fish is an endangered species or not. Currently, in terms of radio activity, you can eat all products from Japan. Should that change, you can find out in barcoo (and probably in every other news source out there).