BY JANET RAUSA FULLER Staff
The sushi menus said red snapper, a fish prized for its flavor - and
priced accordingly.

But a Sun-Times investigation found good reason to question whether diners
are getting what's promised.

WHAT YOU CAN DO
Think you're getting a raw deal by being served a fish that's not what the
menu promised? In Chicago, you can call 311 to file a complaint with the
Department of Consumer Services. The city agency would examine the
restaurant's invoices and could issue a citation, a spokesman said. The
newspaper had DNA tests done on sushi described as red snapper or "Japanese
red snapper" bought from 14 restaurants in the city and suburbs. Not a
single one was really red snapper.
In most cases, the red-tinged flesh draped across the small mound of rice
was tilapia - a cheap substitute. Nine of the 14 samples were tilapia. Four
were red sea bream - nearly as pricey but still not red snapper.

"It's misbranding, and it's fraud," said Spring Randolph of the U.S. Food
and Drug Administration, which oversees labeling of seafood.

And there's ample reason to believe diners around the country similarly
are being taken in, the Sun-Times found:

. Some restaurant owners said that when they order red snapper, their
suppliers send what the owners acknowledged, after checking, is actually
tilapia. And most sushi fish in the United States comes from just a handful
of suppliers.

. There's little government oversight. Generally, that's left to the FDA.
Though the agency tries to investigate complaints, "We are not directly
going out looking for species substitution," Randolph said.

. Another FDA official said: "From the reports that we have received,
there has been an increase in species substitution. It is a problem."

Popularity leads to overfishing
Three years ago, prompted in part by concerns over mislabeled tilapia, the
Japanese government called on retailers to accurately label fish.
In the United States, the Congressional Research Service - Congress'
research arm - issued a report last month citing a government survey that
found 37 percent of fish examined by the National Marine Fisheries Service
were mislabeled. A separate survey by the Fisheries Service found a whopping
80 percent of red snapper was mislabeled.

With red snapper, there's incentive to cheat. It brings a good price. And
the fish - found largely in the western Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico -
has become so popular that it's overfished, making it harder to find. As a
result, it's among the most commonly "substituted" fish, according to the
FDA.

There are roughly 250 snapper species worldwide. Under federal law, just
one can be sold as red snapper - the one known to scientists as Lutjanus
campechanus.

Whole red snapper sells for $9 a pound, or more, retail. Tilapia sells for
half that. But restaurant owners said they're not trying to mislead
customers.

At Chi Tung, 9560 S. Kedzie, owner Jinny Zhao reacted to being told the
sushi she sells as red snapper is really tilapia by insisting that couldn't
be.

"Of course, it's red snapper," Zhao said. "If we order red snapper, we
have to get red snapper."

Hur San, owner of Sushi Mura, 3647 N. Southport, also seemed surprised.

"We just order [from] the fish company, and they deliver red snapper,"
said San.

Then, at a reporter's request, he examined the box. He saw these words:
"Izumidai. Tilapia. From Taiwan."

Izumidai is the Japanese term for tilapia.

At Bluefin Sushi Bar in Bucktown, Andrew Kim, the restaurant's general
manager, was surprised to find the same labeling.

"It's tilapia," Kim said. "I just saw that. I never thought to look at the
description."

At Todai, inside Schaumburg's Woodfield mall, what was labeled on the
buffet line as red snapper shouldn't have been, a company spokesman said.

"This is an isolated incident," said Paul Lee, a vice president of the
California chain.

At Sushi Bento, 1512 N. Naper Blvd. in Naperville, manager Jamie Park said
she was sure her restaurant served real red snapper. Told that the DNA
testing showed it was tilapia, Park said, "Tilapia and red snapper look
alike. They're really close. They taste almost the same."

At Tatsu, 1062 W. Taylor in the Little Italy neighborhood, the menu lists
"tai, red snapper." Tai actually refers to another fish - red sea bream.

But it really was tilapia, the tests showed. Told that, manager Ten Smith
said he'd noticed that the label read tilapia but didn't think much of it.
He said, "The vendor recommends this [tilapia] fillet."

Japanese Food Corporation, a major supplier with an office in Hanover
Park, provides sushi fish to at least three restaurants in the Sun-Times
survey. A spokeswoman said she couldn't say whether the restaurants ask for
red snapper, only that the company sells - and properly labels - tilapia as
izumidai. "We don't call it red snapper," she said.

$2,000 fine
True World Foods, another major supplier, provides sushi fish to at least
four of the restaurants surveyed. No one from the company, which has
headquarters in New Jersey and an office in Elk Grove Village, returned
calls for comment.
Zhao, the owner of Chi Tung, said her restaurant buys fish from True
World. She said she called the company about the test results: "They said
they gave us red snapper."

At Renga Tei in Lincolnwood, the red snapper sushi turned out to be red
sea bream. Chef and owner Hisao Yamada said he pays $11.50 to $11.95 a pound
for sea bream. It's a highly regarded fish. So why not call it sea bream?
"Most American customers don't know the name sea bream," Yamada said.

Sushi Wabi, 842 W. Randolph, also offers red snapper that's really red sea
bream. Told that, owner Angela Hepler checked an invoice, which,
confusingly, was marked "Tai (New Zealand Snapper/Bream)."

A day later, Hepler dropped the item, saying, "I don't believe in
overfishing and killing out a species or being sold something that I thought
was something other than it really is."

"It's a concern that no restaurant seems to be offering the right fish,"
said Bill McCaffrey, spokesman for Chicago's Department of Consumer
Services. "It suggests that this is an accepted industry practice."

In Chicago, mislabeling fish is punishable by fines of up to $2,000.
McCaffrey said he didn't know of any restaurants being cited for fish fraud.

John Connelly, president of the National Fisheries Institute, the seafood
industry's main trade group, said substituting fish is like buying a cheap
knockoff of a designer product.

"It's fraud, and it should be stopped," said Connelly. "If a person has a
certain experience with a lower-end fish and they think it's a higher-end
fish, then their view of the higher-end fish may not be as positive."