See What Cheaper Fish Some Restaurants Serve For Grouper, Cod and Catfish
Published May 29, 2023, 1:20 a.m. by Courtney
If you're looking for a seafood dinner on a budget, you might want to think twice about ordering grouper, cod or catfish.
According to a new report by Inside Edition, some restaurants are serving cheaper fish and calling it grouper, cod or catfish.
The investigation found that some restaurants in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were serving cheaper fish like tilapia, pollock or hake and calling it grouper or cod.
One restaurant was even serving farmed tilapia from China and calling it grouper.
So how can you make sure you're getting what you're paying for?
Ask your waiter or waitress what kind of fish it is and if they don't know, ask to speak to the manager.
You can also ask to see the fish before it's cooked.
If you're still not sure, you can always order something else.
You may also like to read about:
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the American Heart Association
recommends everyone eat fish at least
twice a week but how do you know the
fish you're ordering at the restaurant
is the fish you're getting truth is you
don't and as lisa guerrero discovered on
our Inside Edition fish test you just
might not be getting what you're paying
for Americans love fish I love fish fish
is my favorite meal when I look at the
menu
seafood is like my go-to it's my first
choice but Inside Edition found you
could be the victim of a fish switcheroo
how is it possible for one type of fish
to be switched to another type of fish
alexandra pepitas is the executive chef
at colori Taverna in New York City and
says it can easily happen in some
restaurants it's really people just
capitalizing on people not really having
a full knowledge base about fish you
know even though these look very
different right now when they're sitting
here they're not going to look as
different once we cook them so would we
be a victim of a fish switch to find out
we did some testing first we visited 22
restaurants in Tampa and Atlanta the
sandwich and ordered cod grouper and
catfish looping out the crunchy grouper
we then packed the fish up and sent
samples off to a lab for DNA testing now
get this 33% of the restaurants in
Atlanta gave us a cheaper fish than the
one we ordered at noodles restaurant we
ordered fried grouper a local favorite
but what we really got according to the
lab was an Asian farmed fish called swai
grouper goes for 20 dollars a pound
while swai costs about $3 a pound so
what the heck is swai swai comes mainly
from Vietnam specifically the Mekong
Delta not the cleanest water in the
world this video also shows why farmed
in overcrowded fish ponds
in a statement to Inside Edition a fish
industry spokesman insists the fish are
some of the safest seafood you can eat
and it's a healthy affordable fish
period we went back to noodles the place
where we got the Chiefs why instead of
grouper we found out that instead of
grouper it was actually a cheaper farmed
fish from Asia how can you explain that
guess she didn't want to tell me at past
Falls restaurant we ordered catfish but
according to the lab once again we got
swine how do you think that happens I
have no idea and I apologize I have no
idea I have to find out how that
happened at Copeland's it was the same
story
are you substituting a cheaper fish for
your catfish here I guess I can't
comment on that I have to ought to get
with my markup arm on my mat like a
general manager Larry Olmstead author of
real food fake food says food
substitutions is a dirty secret in the
restaurant industry any time you have a
food that consumers can't readily
identify with their eye that you can
substitute something cheaper for and get
away with it people are going to do that
all ten of the restaurants we visited in
Tampa gave us the fish we ordered
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you
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