A stomach-turning study reveals the lobster at major restaurants might not be what you think at all
(By scaredykat on Flickr)
If you’ve ordered lobster recently, get ready to feel queasy.
More than a third of restaurants — including Red Lobster — swap out lobster for more inexpensive substitutes in their dishes, reports Inside Edition.
The news organization ran DNA tests on lobster dishes from 28 restaurants across the country. Thirty five percent of the samples contained cheaper seafood, such as whiting and langostino.
Samples of lobster bisque at three Red Lobster locations revealed one dish that contained no lobster at all — only langostino. The other two locations served dishes that contained a combination of langostino and lobster.(Shutterstock)
"As a seafood expert, Red Lobster understands that the seasonality and availability of lobster can fluctuate, so our Lobster Bisque can contain meat from Maine lobster, lobster, or, in some cases, a combination of both,” Red Lobster said in a statement to Inside Edition.
While langostino means “little lobster” in Spanish, the crustacean is more similar to a hermit crab — and cheaper than American lobsters.
Red Lobster isn’t the first company to face langostino-based backlash. In 2005, Rubio’s Fresh Mexican Grill was sued for using the crustacean in its “lobster burrito” (the case was settled out of court).
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