Al Sunshine
Reporting

(CBS4) An exclusive CBS4 News investigation revealed the next time you go out to buy your favorite Florida seafood there's a very good chance you may be paying too much for a seafood dinner worth much less, State and Federal investigators say consumers could be over-charged by millions of dollars, by paying for one fish and getting something different


Fisherman Gary Rowe says it happens a lot; he goes out for his favorite meal and sometimes it just doesn't taste right!

"I'm a native of Fort Lauderdale and a fisherman and I know fish," Rowe told CBS4 Consumer Investigator Al Sunshine. "I think a lot of people, especially tourists, come down here and eat grouper thinking it's the Florida grouper… and it's not."

Industry insiders call it species substitution, and while its hard to detect, the CBS4 I-Team set out to see if South Florida restaurants are serving the real thing, or something fishy.

The I-Team went undercover, chose 5 restaurants at random, and ordered what was supposed to be grouper. The fish was then analyzed at Nova University's' DNA lab, the Guy Harvey Research Institute and the same lab used by federal investigators.


Dr. Mahmood Shivji, the Lab Director, said, "We can tell with a 100% certainty whether the sample is a grouper or not a grouper."

And after the testing was done,. The I-team discovered out of all the samples submitted, only 1 tested positive as grouper.


The I-Team search started at the Doral Ale House in Doral, a restaurant where, when asked, the server even wrote "Grouper" on the receipt, when asked what fish was served. The server may have said so, but Dr. Shivji did not.

"Sample number 5 we know with a 100% certainty is in the Croker family," Shivji said, "and we know with a 100% certainty that it is not a grouper."

The manager of the Doral Ale House said it doesn't serve grouper...and told the I-team it's servers should not be taking grouper orders.

The Ale House said the fish it served was bought and certified as South American Corvina, which is also known as Chilean Croaker....a fish less popular and less expensive than fresh Florida grouper.



The I-Team moved south, to OC's Bar and Grill on Old Cutler Road. We took sample 2 to the lab, and Dr. Shivji made his decision. "Sample 2 is not a grouper," Shivji said.


OC's Bar and Grill insists it sells certified grouper, says it has the paperwork to prove it and in a statement added, "We of course must question the science, control of sampling and results. We can not be sure that samples we not commingled, contaminated or compromised, or maybe improperly tested with incorrect or false returns."

"Sample 2 turned out to be the one that we are not sure of the exact identity but we do know that it is definitely not a grouper," Dr. Shivji said. "We know that with a 100% certainty."


Hooters Restaurants are known for chicken wings, but the Florida Attorney Generals' office is currently investigating several hooters restaurants near Tampa for allegedly "substituting other fish for an item described as grouper on
the restaurant menu."

The sample the I-Team took came from Hooters in Doral, which is not one of the restaurants under state investigation.

The restaurant's menu offers a "cousin of grouper" sandwich, but when But we asked for grouper to go, nobody said it was 'just a cousin', and the server even wrote "grouper" on the receipt.

Our experts said it wasn't even close.

"Number 4 happens to be in the catfish family. We do not know exactly what catfish species because there are several hundred catfish species. But we can tell with a 100% certainty that it is in the catfish family." So the I-Team wanted to know, could it have been grouper? "

"It was absolutely not a grouper," Dr. Shivji said. "By no measure can a catfish be a cousin of grouper."


Hooters denied it's selling catfish as grouper. It's national management says its' staff should not be selling fish sandwiches as grouper, and because of rising prices and shrinking supplies, "Hooters switched to alternative types of white fish that provided similar taste, and more consistent supply and price. We changed the menu description to "Groupers Cousin" to reflect this."

"Hooters does not advertise that we sell grouper and we certainly don't charge a price reflective of grouper."





Sample 3 came from South Miami Dade's Shipwreck Tavern and Grill, and Dr. Shivji said he knows for certainty what was served.


"Sample 3 turned out to be a Mahi-Mahi. We could tell that with a 100% certainty," he said.

Mahi-mahi is better known locally as dolphin. Managers at the Shipwreck said they don't sell grouper, and they're now ordering their staff not to misrepresent their fish.

Out of all the restaurants tested, the only restaurant we tested that that actually served Grouper was South Dade's Rodbenders Raw Bar.

"Sample one actually turned out to be in the grouper family. So, it could legitimately be called some type of grouper," Dr Shivji said.


With the state's seafood reputation on the line, some industry insiders tell me restaurants need to do a better job knowing for sure what they're serving.


The Florida Attorney Generals' office recently tested 24 grouper samples from restaurants in other parts of the state, and only 7 of the 24 were confirmed grouper.

State prosecutors say their investigation is now expanding statewide. To date no South Florida restaurants have been cited in this case.