Langostino: Difference between revisions

'''''Langostino''''' is a [[Spanish language|Spanish]] word with different meanings in different areas, most commonly applied to various types of [[crustacean]]. In the United States, it is commonly used in the restaurant trade to refer to the meat of the [[squat lobster]], which is neither a true [[lobster]] nor a [[prawn]]. Squat lobsters are more closely related to [[porcelain crab|porcelain]] and [[hermit crab]]s. [[Crustaceans]] labeled as langostino are no more than {{convert|3|in|cm|0|abbr=on|order=flip}} long, and weigh no more than {{convert|7|oz|g|-1|abbr=on|order=flip}}.<ref name="Fish fraud"/> Langostinos are not [[langouste]]s (spiny lobsters) despite a similar name (in Spanish, lobster is called ''{{lang|es|langosta}}''). Also, langostinos are sometimes confused with [[Norway lobster|langoustines]] (Norway lobster).<ref>{{citeCite web|url= httphttps://www.seafoodsource.com/news/foodservice-retail/langostino-lobster-difference |title=Seafood FAQ: Langostino vs. Lobster: What's the difference? &#124; SeafoodSource|website=www.seafoodsource.com|accessdate=19 May 2023}}</ref>

In the [[United States]], the [[Food and Drug Administration]] allows "langostino" to be used as a market name for three species of [[squat lobster]] in the family [[Galatheidae]]: ''[[Cervimunida johni]]'', ''[[Munida gregaria]]'', and ''[[Pleuroncodes monodon]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~ear/seafood.html|title= FDA Fish List: Market Names of Fish and Shellfish|accessdateaccess-date= October 30, 2007|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070929123603/http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~ear/seafood.html|archive-date= September 29, 2007|url-status= dead}}</ref>

In [[Spain]] and Venezuela, it means some species of [[prawn]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holthuis |first=L. B. |url=https://decapoda.nhm.org/pdfs/11684/11684-001.pdf |title=Marine lobsters of the world |date=1991 |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |series=FAO Fisheries Synopsis, no. 125 |volume=13 |location=Rome |pages=3 |language=En}}</ref> In [[Cuba]] and other [[Spanish language|Spanish]]-speaking [[Caribbean]] islands, the name langostino is also used to refer to [[crayfish|crawfish]]. In Argentina the name is used to refer to ''[[Pleoticus muelleri]]'', a kind of shrimp, while in Chile and Peru it refers to ''Pleuroncodes monodon''.

In March 2006, [[Long John Silver's]] garnered controversy by offering a dish they called "Buttered Lobster Bites" without making it clear in its advertising that these were made from "langostino lobster."<ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/10/04/politics/main2059973.shtml?source=RSSattr=Business_2059973|title= Taking Aim Atat 'Impostor Lobster'|accessdateaccess-date=October 30, 2007 |publisher=[[CBS News]] |date=October 4, 2006}}</ref> The [[Federal Trade Commission]] ultimately launched an investigation into deceptive advertising practices by the chain, because [[Food and Drug Administration]] regulations require that anyone marketing langostino as lobster must place the qualifier "langostino" adjacent to the word "lobster," and Long John Silver's not only failed to do this, but ran a television commercial making use of an American lobster in a manner that the Commissioncommission concluded was contributing to the misperception that the product was American lobster.<ref name=Engle2009>{{cite web|last1=Engle|first1=Mary Kolb|title=Closing Letter to Phillip Allen, Esq. Counsel to Long John Silver's|url=https://www.ftc.gov/sites/default/files/documents/closing_letters/long-john-silvers/090623lobsterclosingletter.pdf|publisher=Federal Trade Commission|accessdateaccess-date=1 June 2015|date=June 24, 2009}}</ref>

Upon being contacted by the Commissioncommission, Long John Silver's promptly terminated the television commercial campaigns, revised its website, and committed both to prominently placing the word "langostino" adjacent to the term "lobster" in all future advertising, and to revising its existing in-store materials accordingly within eight weeks, and on June 24, 2009, the Commissioncommission wrote to the chain to inform them that they had no intention of taking further action at that time.<ref name=Engle2009/>

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