Fishy Selling Practices At Kansas City Restaurants: 85% Of The Fish On The Menu Is Not The Fish On The Menu
An NBC investigation in Kansas City, Mo., has discovered that 85% of area restaurants surveyed use cheaper fish in place of the one listed on the menu. Instead of red snapper, they mostly served tilapia—which costs five times less. Even "Red Snapper" restaurant was caught serving something that wasn't red snapper.
NBC extracted DNA samples from fish ordered from 20 popular local restaurants and sent them to a research institute for testing. The results shocked them—not just because the fish substitution was so prevalent but because it's illegal. According to a Government Accounting Office report, "the specific species of fish or shellfish must be listed to notify consumers with food allergies of a particular type of fish species."
While one sushi restaurant manager even went so far as to say that the substitution was "an accepted industry standard," it seems that the actual fish suppliers might be the ones perpetuating fraud. Most of the restaurants believed that what they ordered from their vendors and what they served in their restaurants was indeed what they listed on their menu. They just "didn't understand the differences between species."
"Investigators: Restaurants Caught Substituting" [NBC] (Thanks to doodle bug!)
(Photo: mahalie)
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Comments:
I knew something was fishy with these places.
I don't know which is worse, the restaurants who deliberately substituted fish, or the restaurants that couldn't tell the difference when their supplier substituted fish.
seems like it's indeed industry standard. they did an expose of restaurants in NYC doing the same thing a while back. though I think it was a few college kids, not NBC.
I'm going to disagree with "an accepted industry standard". Its might be for dishonest places, but not normal ones.
I cooked at a country club here in KC for 7 years, you served what the customer ordered, and knew the differences in look and feel for each kind of fish we served. When deliveries were made you inspected the fish delivered and made sure the club wasn't getting fish subbed as another kind.
Some, Like Sushi Gin, I'm not surprised (I mean, what do you expect for $1/piece sushi?). I sort of wish they had included a few more places in their list, though.
Don't trust anything the KC NBC affiliate KCTV claims. These clowns employ Katie effing Horner, the country's biggest carwash cunt.
Not industry standard... Any cook or chef out there would never willingly serve one fish as another.
The only reasoning for the replacemnt by distributors going un-noticed is many times they come in frozen and fileted already.
Unless someone specialises in seafood it could go by for quite a while.
I live in KC, there is exactly one reputable fish dealer in city. Its the only place the legit sushi places (both of them) get their fish from.
What the hell does "which costs five times less" mean?
Do you mean it costs 1/5th of the price? "Five times less" doesn't make any sense.
@HIV 2 Elway: So you think they doctored the data from the lab, or that the lab gave faulty results?
That's why I buy my food at the grocery store where it's obvious what I'm getting and I cook it myself at home. hey look, I know exactly what it is and how it's prepared! I don't have to worry if Julio the cook washed his hands or not. I've noticed that I don't get that random upset stomach anymore. As Americans we're getting lazy and have forgotten how to cook. Here's another example of why you usually get screwed eating out.
Pretty sure I remember a similar story that was reported a couple of years ago in Chicago.
@wickedpixel: No kidding. I don't know what it costs to DNA test fish, but I think as a manager I would be spot-checking to make sure I wasn't getting ripped off.
Why would you eat seafood more than 100 miles from the ocean? And Sushi? Are you stupid?
You are in Kansas City, for crying out loud. Eat a steak.
"While one sushi restaurant manager even went so far as to say that the substitution was "an accepted industry standard,""
Lying is certainly becoming an "accepted industry standard" for most corporations in the US.
Also, how does anybody pass off tilapia as red snapper? They don't taste THAT similar.
Yes it does, even if it's technically inaccurate, everyone knows what it means. Relaaaax ;)
@CaptainCynic:
It would mean that they would pay you four times the price you would pay for Red Snapper to take Tilapia. :)
@takes_so_little: They lost all credibility with me when their bitch of a weather woman told me to put on my bike helmet and go in the basement. Whether or not I came to my conclusion rationally or not is another issue.
I would like to encourage the media to do this in every city. These fraudsters need to be exposed.
I've never tried Dover sole because it is so damned expensive, but if I ever do (I want to), I could get talapia and not know the difference after paying $40 for the meal.
@GMFish: Yes, a random manager of a sushi restaurant that we don't even know is part of a corporation, located in the seafood mecca of Kansas City no less, speaks for all corporations in the US.
@skippywasserman: Most fish is frozen anyway. It doesn't really matter where you are, because it's all coming in frozen anyway.
@HIV 2 Elway:
She actually said that? Doesn't surprise me, but wow. I hope that's on you tube somewhere.
@Canino: Hello Canino, apparently this is your first day in the US. I just wanted to say hello and I hope you enjoy your visit.
@Canino: "I would be spot-checking to make sure I wasn't getting ripped off."
Yes, AND, that, as a restaurant manager, you would know the difference between kinds of fish.
I have to admit, I'm not a seafood connoisseur, living in a very landlocked area. However, that same geographical affliction also prevents me from ordering seafood because it's not really good here. I order fish when I'm on vacation near an ocean.
@travisw: I wish I could accurately portray how hated this weather woman is in this city. Quoting Curbed is the best I can do.
@billbobbins: "As Americans we're getting lazy and have forgotten how to cook."
What the hell? So if someone wants to go out for a nice meal with the family, they are suddenly lazy? Because I went out last night with a friend to a local pub and had fish 'n chips and beer, I'm lazy?
Yes, because you clearly know that, since I like to eat out on occasion, I am totally lazy. *eye roll*
Stop being an ass.
@billbobbins: Sometimes the wife and I like to hire a baby sitter and have a nice romantic meal out. We haven't forgotten how to cook, and we aren't lazy.
And I'm totally going to tell Julio you said that.
@joshua70448: I think what he means is that you shouldn't eat fresh fish, especially sushi, if you are more than 100 miles from the ocean.
I'll respond with: A lot of fish is farmed, and depending on the restaurant, places in the middle of the country might have fresher fish than those on the coasts. There's a great sushi place in Telluride, for example, called Hongas that gets their fish overnighted from Honolulu(IIRC) six days/week.
@skippywasserman: I eat fish all the time in Arizona. We have several places that get fresh fish and sushi trucked in daily. It is possible, trust.
@skippywasserman: I agree. I never order fish out just because I live too far from the ocean for it to be really fresh. And I'm not eating anything they catch in Lake Ontario, call me paranoid.
@Gene Gemperline: If it's served, say, almond-crusted with some kind of glaze and a mango chutney atop a bed of fancy greens with ginger-port dressing, you can't really taste the fish anyway.
@GMFish: You could have just as easily concluded:
Lying is certainly becoming an "accepted standard" for most people in the Kansas City.
Makes about as much sense to draw this conclusion from the article as your first conclusion.
@skippywasserman: Agreed, sir. Until the leaders of industry figure out a means by which to convey perishable foodstuffs so that they can reach the middle of America within a day - then I will eat my cod the way God and my lovely mother (rest her soul) intended - packed in salt. Of course, such folly is best left to the fantastical imaginations of the likes of H.G. Welles. Do you not agree?
@takes_so_little: Yeah, I'd like to think that restaurant managers, especially those in fancier places, would have the training/experience to be able to tell the difference between different fish when they get them from the supplier.
@Ben Duffy: anything that wasn't picked up from the dock @ 5:30am after getting unloaded off a fishing boat at 5:15am ain't fresh.
This would be why the only good places to eat seafood are Boston and New York city ;)
How could you confuse tilapia for red snapper? Aside from relatively opaque white flesh they are pretty different looking.
It's also another reason to stick with restaurants (and other businesses) that you trust- when you have the option of course.
@nakedscience: After some of the recent stories, you do have to wonder just what someone having a bad day did to that fish in the back of the grocery store.
Did the same thing while I worked in a restaurant if we ran out of a certain type of fish. Though we were honest and told the guest that we ran out and could substitute the type of fish with another. We also gave a discount for the inconvenience to them as well.