Restaurants in Kansas City fraudulent fish. Is this the norm nation wide?

[alfredo]

Red Snapper? Riiiiight. Only two out of twenty restaurants told their customers the truth.

http://www.nbcactionnews.com/mostpopular/story/Investigators-Restaurants-Caught-Substituting/RtpWJ9lgTUmXXLBS_P2QQg.cspx

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A NBC Action News investigation indicates the vast majority of Kansas City restaurants sampled in a 20 restaurant test were serving diners something other than what was promised on the menu.

The undercover video obtained during the NBC Action News investigation shows restaurant workers repeatedly identifying the fish served as what was labeled on the menu.

[jsamuel]

1. wow

[Orrex]

2. Could've been worse: they could have given their customers salmon ella

Something fishy's going on, that's for sure.



(Thank you, thank you)

[keroro gunsou]

3. just for the halibut

you start making fish puns... well don't let me carp on it for too long, i might make your flounder.

[tritsofme]

4. My father in law insisted that in many restaurants that his swordfish was really mako shark.

I can't stand seafood myself, so I never knew what all the huff was about.

[DCKit]

16. They used (still?) to cut plugs out of shark to make scallops. Scandalous.

Too much of our fish is coming from overseas fish farms where the use of antibacterials, antibiotics, antifungals and antialgal agents as well as the processing are completely unregulated. Scary shit.

It's as if BushCo were running their government agencies too.

[cali]

18. Skate, not shark.

but you're spot on about farmed fish.

[grasswire]

5. there was an expose on this in my town last year

Many restaurants were subbing fish.

[juno jones]

27. As a line cook, I've not seen it either.

But I have mostly worked on the West Coast.

I could envision an unscrupulous owner or manager in the midwest who would cut corners. Unfamiliartity with fresh fish could lead to falsehoods.

Skate is really yummy on it's own. It's inexpensive and does taste like (and have a similar texture to) scallops. From what I've heard, they are fast growing. I know ocean people are urging us to eat smaller, faster reproducing fish and crustaceans.

[LuvNewcastle]

6. I've woked at several restaurants

here on the Gulf Coast and I've never known one to substitute one fish for another. The people here are familiar with all types of fish and the restaurant would probably get quickly called on it if they tried to substitute. I could see that working in Kansas City or another inland city, though.

[proud2BlibKansan]

21. Yes they can probably get away with that here but I'll bet your restaurants can serve fake steak

I had a steak once at a seaside restaurant that I swear didn't come from a cow.

[Kali]

26. ...

:thumbsup:

[raouldukelives]

7. That'd make me so mad I'd blow a seal

[Ghost in the Machine]

12. You didn't blow a seal... that's just frost on your moustache

:evilgrin:

[handmade34]

8. one of the reasons I'm a vegetarian

...don't like that mystery meat

[seabeyond]

9. i read on du a month or two ago, a search had shown the fish sold to us wasnt what

was advertised. sounds to me like it is becoming a common practice

[shanti]

10. lots of food for thought here!

sorry ;)

probably just the tip of the iceberg.

[Parker CA]

11. Yes. Big problem, especially in sushi restaurants.

There was a story awhile back about two high school seniors who did a report on fish in NYC restaurants. Many were not what was advertised. Lots of money being had on falsely avertised fish.

[Ghost in the Machine]

13. When I had my restaurant, I had reps from 2 different food service providers

try to get me to sell pollock as catfish. They said that it was a lot cheaper and no one would know the difference. I told them "if my menu *says* catfish, it's gonna *be* catfish on the plate. Period. End of discussion. I got rid of Sysco and GFS and went with a local supplier who was much better.

It goes on everywhere... it's as bad as sticking some of that fake crab into a real crab claw and selling them (which they do, also).


:hi:

[John Q. Citizen]

14. It even happens in markets, substituted species..

I expect we will see it more and more as fish becomes less abundant, especially some species that are routinely over fished, struggling with pollution and acidification, etc.

[mentalsolstice]

15. Here in Birmingham Alabama, we have GREAT seafood.

The Fish Market...it's a premiere seafood restaurant. It's both Greek and southern (Gulf Coast). The owner, George Sarris, is widely respected in the local community. And it's affordable!

Okay, you know where to find me tomorrow night.

[ColbertWatcher]

17. This is what local news stations spend their time investigating? n/t

[Telly Savalas]

20. The state of Missouri has distributed several hundred million in stimulus dollars.

How many went to Kansas City, the largest city in the state?

Zero.

Of course the douchebag "journalists" are completely missing in action in getting to the bottom of how this was allowed to happen. But at least I know that the most landlocked city in the U.S. is a bad place to buy seafood.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. Actually we have one really good seafood restaurant

but it closed not long ago for a year to remodel.

[proud2BlibKansan]

22. We have very bad media here

Believe it or not, the best local TV news is FOX. It just goes downhill from there. Our newspaper used to be one of the best in the nation but it really sucks now.

[melm00se]

19. ignorance

I have also heard that not only restaurants but also supermarkets have been selling 1 fish but calling it (and charging for) another fish.

This really boils down to ignorance:

can most folks tell the difference between fish A and fish B (both extremely rare species)? once the fish has been scaled and filleted it's a real challenge and even "experts" struggle to tell the difference based just on the flesh. (which is why when you fish, you better not fillet when you gut your fish, the game warden needs to be able to identify your catches)

[fishnfla]

24. happens all the time, sometimes to diners benefit though

sometimes they will sell restricted species, like here if florida snook cannot be bought or sold commercially. it is the best tasting fish in the world. It can still be caught though,sometimes in great numbers with ease and unscrupulous fishers and restraunt owners will conspire to call it whatever is legal. tastes good so folks eat it up

[proud2BlibKansan]

25. The bigger question is why the hell you would order seafood when you are thousands of miles inland

I don't order steak in Florida. :eyes:

[alarimer]

28. It's quite common.

Tilapia (a very common, cheap, farm-raised fish) is often passed off as more expensive things, such a grouper. It's illegal but restaurants do it to save money/make a profit and most people probably can't tell the difference.

[alfredo]

29. That's true. I had a girlfriend who had worked in several restaurants. She

said the difference between a fast food restaurant and a good restaurant is the good restaurant waits ten minutes before putting your food in the microwave.