Why is て-form +　見る used here?


The following is an excerpt from a dialogue between my language partner and
me: YouTube
で馬肉とニンニク料理のレポートを観ましたよ。馬肉と言えば、九州、特に熊本県だと思っていましたが、調べてみると、青森県も馬肉生産量で３位に入っていました。

The sentence in question:
馬肉と言えば、九州、特に熊本県だと思っていましたが、調べてみると、青森県も馬肉生産量で３位に入っていました。

My attempt at translation: "Speaking of horsemeat, even though I think that it
is kyushu and especially Kumamoto, when you (try to) check it up, Aomori also
has entered the 3rd rank in the production of horsemeat."

While the "try out" semantics of て-form + 見る can be applied without a problem
here, I don't see what it adds to the sentence. Therefore it feels a little
redundant, that's why I wanted to ask wether there is more to it than what the
standard translation for this pattern reveals.

