Genetic testing has revealed that a New Orleans shrimp festival was indeed selling local catch as advertised, a relief to Louisiana fishers and industry advocates after two other recent events were found to be serving foreign imports.
The debut edition of the Louisiana Shrimp Festival and Shrimp Aid 2024 hosted a slate of New Orleans restaurants and vendors in October, including Greta’s Sushi, Rosedale and Waska Nola, as well as shrimpers themselves to supply the chefs with their catch. SeaD Consulting, a company that uses rapid genetic testing to verify seafood species, found that all the shrimp sold at the New Orleans festival came from the Gulf of Mexico.
“The organizers and community came together to honor coastal communities,” Erin Williams, the COO of SeaD, said. “They were not just saying it but actually enacting it.”
In September, the company found that four out of five vendors tested at the annual Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City were selling imported shrimp advertised as local, as first reported by the Louisiana Illuminator. SeaD found similar results at a national shrimp festival in Alabama.
Lance Nacio, a shrimper who attended the recent festival in New Orleans, described the results at the previous festivals as disheartening and appalling. The Shrimp and Petroleum Festival did not respond to requests for comment.
“These festivals were built on the backs of fishermen,” he said. “They’re supposed to celebrate fishing.”
The foreign shrimp at the other festivals speaks to a larger issue of cheap imports and a lack of seafood testing that leads to misrepresentation, Nacio said.
According to the Louisiana Shrimp Association, around 90 percent of shrimp sold in the country is farm-raised and imported, with products coming from countries including India, Ecuador and Vietnam. Seafood imports and their mislabeling are hurting the local industry, the association says.
“The domestic shrimp industry is on the verge of collapse,” Nacio said. “If we could just get the fraud taken out. All we want is the truth.”
Dana Honn, one of the founders of seafood restaurant Carmo and an organizer for the recent New Orleans festival, has observed the mental health strain shrimpers and fishers have experienced as a result of the foreign competition.
“Festivals and institutions that deal with events like this have to be a partner to the vendors and help them find great local produce, and affordably,” Honn said. “It doesn’t mean they need to stop making money.”
While it is illegal to pass off imported seafood as local, local shrimp advocates have complained that the laws lack teeth.
Earlier this year, the state legislature approved changes to public health codes requiring restaurants to publicly disclose to customers whether they sell imported shrimp and face fines of up to $2,000 if they don’t comply.
“Festivals and restaurants should be on notice,” Honn said, praising SeaD’s commitment to holding people accountable. “If they’re selling imported shrimp, that’s fine. Just say it.”
