The gross secret behind your restaurant calamari

Some foreign producers are using a cheap fishy paste as a substitute and delivering it to British outlets

CALAMARI served in British pubs and restaurants may not be what it seems.

Some foreign producers are using a cheap fishy paste as a substitute for fresh squid and delivering it to British outlets, reports say.

Celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said restaurants were "conning their customers" by selling these fishy rings as squid but there is nothing illegal about the practice.

Some seafood producers combine a paste of giant Pacific squid, Alaskan pollock, starch, additives and water into a mixer and squirt it out into rings, according to the daily mail.

These ingredients are then battered, frozen and shipped to diners across Europe and the UK.

"Squid rings describe a way of preparing whole squid by slicing their cylindrical bodies horizontally into rings," Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall told the mail.

"It's become a classic the world over, and anything not made this way shouldn't be called squid rings. So any pub, restaurant or canteen serving these and calling them squid rings is conning their customers plain and simple.

"It's absolutely vital that all foods are described honestly and accurately, and food manufacturers and retailers aren't allowed to get away with misleading us."

The rings can still be described as squid because the rings contain an element of the sea creature and the process is not illegal.

Restaurants, hotels, pubs, cafes and canteens do not have to declare the other ingredients.

The processing practice has become more prevalent as the price of the preferred Illex squid, which is softer and less acidic, has rocketed while stocks have plummeted.

Giant Pacific squid are in plentiful supply but European consumers have rejected them, according to the mail.

The global catch of Illex squid has been falling since 2015 and was down almost 30 per cent this year compared with last year at 195,000 tons.

The wholesale price of Illex has risen by around 230 per cent since 2015, taking it up to some £4,060 per ton.

The squid paste product sold in the UK is labelled as Battered Squid Rings.