First of all, the production of caviar requires a lot of patience: sturgeon must be raised for over 6 years before the females reach maturity and start producing eggs. Each species of sturgeon produces eggs at different ages. On average, it takes 7 years for Baerii, 12 years for the famous Oscietra, and even 20 years for the Tsar Beluga or Almas with albinos Beluga.
During the caviar production process, the eggs are rinsed and sorted to keep only the finest ones. Each stage of sturgeon farming and caviar production requires patience, expertise, and high standards.
USA allows only Baerii and Oscietra caviar but do not protect the term caviar. So you can easily find cheap caviar from other species like Hackleback, Roe, Paddlefish or some mix-up with different batchs and colors in the same tin.
To avoid issues you must be able to identify the producer, the main one are: Sturia (France), Petrossian (Russia), Adamas Caviar (Italy), Karat Caviar (Israel) and Kaluga Queen (China).