DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Investigators are looking into complaints that the grouper advertised on some Florida restaurant menus may not be what is served on a customer's plate.
State economic crimes investigators are probing allegations that restaurants substituted grouper with cheaper types of fish, said JoAnn Carrin, spokeswoman for Attorney General Charlie Crist. She declined to discuss details of the probe.
Switching fish could be a violation of the state's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Act, which carries up to a $15,000 fine for each infraction, Carrin said.
In a recent test, the Daytona Beach News-Journal found cheaper fish was substituted for grouper in entrees at four of 10 area restaurants surveyed. Six restaurants served grouper, three were a type of inexpensive Vietnamese catfish and one was emperor fish, according to a lab analysis paid for by the newspaper.
It's not clear who was at fault for the substitutions. Possible explanations range from a simple kitchen mistake to distributor fraud.
Therion International, the Saratoga Springs, N.Y.-based DNA lab that conducted the tests, said its research showed that customers got what they ordered less than half the time in 24 American cities, said company spokesman Will Gergits.
And, two Panama City seafood companies pleaded guilty in August to selling more than a million pounds of Vietnam catfish as grouper.
"We all can be tricked," said Stephen Preisser, an assistant U.S. attorney based in Tallahassee. "But I would think someone in the business would know the difference. If a jeweler sold you a diamond that turned out to be glass, wouldn't you expect they'd know the difference?"
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is currently watching five Vietnamese companies for importing catfish - called basa - containing unapproved drugs. In 2005, the Alabama Commission of Agriculture and Industries found traces of a banned antibiotic and a potentially carcinogenic dye in 19 samples of Vietnamese catfish.
Managers at restaurants that passed the News-Journal's test said they use simple rules, such as getting the whole fish, to ensure the grouper they serve is as advertised.
"If it's a grouper, we know it," said Pamela Simmons, owner of Norwood's in New Smyrna Beach. The restaurant fillets its fresh grouper in the kitchen.
Other restaurants require a closer reading of the menu.
At WingHouse Bar & Grill in Daytona Beach, a sandwich containing Asian catfish is described in the menu as "Grouper's Teammate," said Jeff Stine, vice president of purchasing for the Largo-based restaurant chain.
Stine said the restaurant switched to Swai Basa when grouper became hard to find on the market.
