That iconic Chesapeake Bay blue crab you ordered at a local Maryland or Washington, DC restaurant just might not be the real thing according to a recent study from Oceana that suggests a massive mislabeling scam.
According to the environmental activist organization, DNA testing of crab cakes taken from 86 restaurants in the Chesapeake Bay area confirmed 38 percent of the products were mislabeled. Instead of the advertised locally caught blue crab, Oceana says the crab cakes contained imported substitutes. The crab cakes were considered to be mislabeled if they were described on the menu or confirmed by the server as containing blue crab or as sourced from Maryland or the Chesapeake Bay region, but were comprised of completely different crab species.