RandyTravis' Blog

When it comes to sushi in the United States, you either love it or you think it's yesterday's bait. No matter how you feel, though, you expect a sushi restaurant to serve you what it says on the menu.

Ever heard of "bait and switch?" Consider this one "switch the bait."

We randomly selected seven sushi restaurants that advertised red snapper on the menu. Then we sent a sample of our sushi to Therion International, a Saratoga Springs, NY lab that specializes in DNA testing. (www.theriondna.com)

The results we got would put a shiver in the best of sushi aficionados. Not one of the seven actually served us red snapper.

Two of the restaurants gave us red sea bream. It's not in the red snapper family, but sea bream is sometimes known as Japanese red snapper so we'll give those two restaurants the benefit of the doubt.

However, the other five restaurants, 71% of the ones we tested, actually gave us tilapia instead of red snapper. Tilapia is a fresh water, rather than salt water fish. It's also a lot cheaper for a restaurant to buy than red snapper.

Some restaurant owners insisted they really were serving red snapper... until we asked them to produce the shipping package. For two of the restaurants, it clearly said tilapia on the label.

Another restaurant insisted they had invoices showing they ordered red snapper. But when we asked to see those invoices, the manager put his hand in front of the camera and insisted we leave.

You can see a list of the restaurants tested here.

When it comes to sushi, do you think it makes any difference what raw fish you're eating?