SEATTLE — The "wild caught" salmon you think you're eating may have come from a farm.
A new study shows restaurants and grocery stores across the country are mislabeling the fish.
A similar study at the University of Washington a few years ago had nearly the same results.
The new study by Oceana looked at samples from the East Coast and Midwest, specifically during winter months, when salmon is out of season.
It found 20 percent of the time, grocery store fish was mislabeled.
But in restaurants, that spiked to 67 percent of the time. Nearly seven in ten pieces of salmon ordered, especially expensive salmon, are actually a lower quality farm-raised variety than what the menu says.
Overall, 43 percent of the time, the public who orders salmon in a restaurant or buys it at a grocery store is not getting fish they believe is wild caught.
A few years ago, a salmon fraud study that looked at a whole year found mislabeling happened only 7 percent of the time, so the problem is on the rise.
KIRO
