Ive read the various articles that have been published this week on eel-gate in Japan and still am not quite clear on what actually happened. So Ill leave that determination up to the law enforcement officials in Japan. What I have gleaned though is that the fraud involved frozen broiled eel, imported from China, which was relabeled to change the expiration date and importer name. On top of that, product may have been contaminated with malachite green, an antimicrobial agent banned Japan (and in the US).

The best quote from the articles is one from this Japan Times article calling the fraud a chain of falsification to deceive consumers.

Isnt that what we see in the U.S. with frozen seafood sold at less than 100% seafood? Maybe the initial parties of the transaction know what is going on, but further down the chain, falsified net weights is simply a way to deceive. How do we break the chain?