Grouper: Sniff out the real deal

A new Web site helps consumers know what they are buying.

By Times Staff Writer
Published July 18, 2007

Florida's fishermen harvest more than 9-million pounds of seafood each year, with a total dockside value of about $165-million. Of all that marine bounty, grouper is one of Florida's prize species, the state providing more than 90 percent of the country's supply.

On July 5, Florida Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles H. Bronson unveiled a new consumer Web site aimed at giving the public tools for evaluating restaurant and retail fish - is it grouper, or something fishy? The site, www. fl-seafood.com, has a section devoted to describing the characteristics of grouper (complete with helpful photos of the real deal and imposter species), an online form for reporting suspected grouper substitution and prices consumers should expect to pay.

According to Florida seafood industry experts, at a high-end, white-tablecloth restaurant, expect to pay $13 to $16 for a sandwich, $21 to $27 for an entree; at a mid-priced restaurant, an authentic grouper sandwich should run $10 to $12 and an entree $16 to $20; and at a lower-priced restaurant, anticipate paying between $8 and $10 for a sandwich and $14 to $16 for a full entree.

The most helpful part of the site is still a work in progress: a county-by-county list of grocery stores, markets and restaurants in Florida that sell local grouper. If scrupulous restaurants and markets make a point of being listed on the site, it might prove to be a valuable resource for the dining public.

[Last modified July 16, 2007, 16:01:45]