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Craving fish? Your seafood may be “catfishing” you.
Studies show diners may be getting a completely different, usually cheaper fish than the one they ordered.
It’s called seafood fraud, and it’s happening in quite a few Chicago restaurants, studies show.
NBC 5 Responds visited Hooked on Fish market in Edgewater to find out more about seafood fraud. Owner Karen Mollins explained that some consumers fall victim because it can be difficult to tell one fish from another just by looking at them.
“A lot of people don’t really know,” said Mollins, who has operated Hooked on Fish for the past decade. The market specializes in selling responsibly sourced, sustainable fish.
So we asked Kathy, a Hooked on Fish customer and diehard seafood fan, to try to identify a few fish species based on their fillets in a display window.
“I believe that that’s trout, but it could be salmon. That one I think is halibut, but I’m not sure about any of those,” said Kathy. Turns, fish identification can be pretty tricky.
Because it’s hard to tell just by looking at them, experts say seafood fraud is flourishing across the country.
“[Seafood fraud] is when a high value fish, something really expensive, is swapped for something that is quite cheap and is potentially dangerous or caught unsustainably or illegally,” said Dr. Marla Valentine with ocean conservation group Oceana.
Dr. Valentine said the fraud is so prevalent, it’s hard to believe it’s not intentional. She explains the mislabeling can happen at any point.
A 2019 study by Oceana found one in five fish samples tested was mislabeled, and seafood was more frequently mislabeled at restaurants and smaller markets than at larger grocery chains.
But in Chicago, the problem is worse, especially for one particular fish.
“Previous analysis in Chicago, for example, found that about 71% of the salmon tested from restaurants was fraudulent,” said Dr. Valentine.
Which types of fish are most likely to be swapped out for a cheaper knockoff? Per the Oceana study, 45 percent of red snapper samples were actually tilapia or grouper, and 55% of seabass samples were switched out for perch or tilapia.
Between each of those fish, the price difference can be up to $30 per pound.
Dr. Valentine said farmed salmon is often sold as “wild caught” salmon, and then there’s the issue with sushi.
“We can see tuna … at a sushi restaurant can actually be Escolar. And one of the real problems with substitution such as Escolar, is that it comes with a number of health risks. Either it’s a species high in mercury or histamines if you have allergens,” said Dr. Valentine.
Back at Hooked on Fish, Mollins points out exactly how other types of seasonal seafood are swapped out for a cheaper variety.
“Copper River salmon is really popular at the beginning of the season. That is something that is often mislabeled,” said Mollins. “At the beginning of the season it would cost, you know, $45 a pound or more. And if you just get regular sockeye salmon, hardly anybody knows.”
“I can understand how that would happen, because some of this fish is very expensive,” said Kathy. “So if a restaurant doesn’t want to pay for it, they could call it whatever they want to. And most people aren’t going to know.”
But if it’s such an open secret, why is seafood fraud still happening? Dr. Valentine said there is a federal fisheries monitoring program in place, but it is extremely limited in scope, focusing on just 13 distinct species.
“Nearly 70% of the seafood that we bring in isn’t being inspected, does not have that traceability paperwork so that we can ensure what we are buying is what we are buying,” said Dr. Valentine.
Dr. Valentine said the program should include all seafood. But until it does, what’s her advice?
“Get the least processed possible. Get it as the whole fish, or if that’s a little scary, get it filleted and it still has the skin on,” said Dr. Valentine.
In Part 2 of our investigation into seafood fraud, NBC 5 Responds partnered with Dominican University’s biology department to have fish samples from around the Chicago area DNA tested. We reveal what testing of fish samples from local markets and restaurants found, exposing which fish are mislabeled and most likely to “catfish” you.