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Truth in seafood advertising: What North Carolina could do

Louisiana lawmakers are setting the example for states like North Carolina with new truth-in-labeling rules that help make sure the public is not misled when it comes to buying seafood labeled as "local."

A Louisiana state law, taking affect Jan. 1, 2025, includes new prohibitions against misleading marketing and new requirements for restaurants and other eateries that serve shrimp and crawfish. Heavier fines for violators and new enforcement powers and duties for the Louisiana departments of health and agriculture are included in the law, Louisiana Illuminator reported.

Alabama has also enacted a truth in seafood advertising law that restaurants to disclose if the seafood they use in dishes is domestic or imported.

Additionally, two Louisiana congressmen have introduced bi-partisan legislation at the federal level that would protect U.S. consumers from contaminated imported seafood. That proposed bill "would empower the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to close the loophole and destroy imports that are: 'Contaminated or ill-processed seafood that’s coming into our country that has not gone through the same level of testing for bacteria and other contaminants as good Louisiana seafood does,'” Red River radio reported.

Fines for breaking the new Louisiana state law range from $200 to $2,000 for restaurants and up to $50,000 for importers, New Orleans television station WGNO reported.

Other provisions in the state law mandate that all state agencies, schools, and other public institutions exclusively use domestically produced meat, poultry and seafood, according to the WGNO report .

Louisiana state legislators were promoted in part by seafood packaging at supermarkets that gave the impression of local seafood when the package contents were imported. Misleading seafood packaging has also been spotted at North Carolina grocers.

During an April 24, 2024, committee hearing on the bill that led to the new Louisiana law, Louisiana Sen. Patrick Connick displayed enlarged photographs of common seafood products that can be found in Louisiana grocery stores, Louisiana Illuminator reported. "One was a photo of Boudreaux’s Brand frozen crawfish tails. Everything about the product suggests it’s from Louisiana, from its use of a classic Cajun name to the words 'Wild Caught' in large lettering across the label. At the bottom of the label, it lists a Westwego address and a logo in the shape of Louisiana for its distributor, Gulf Marine Products Co."

Connick showed a photo of the back of the package and pointed to small lettering that stated: “Product of China.”

“So they’re using our label, our name, our image, our culture, but it’s Chinese shrimp or it’s Chinese crawfish,” Connick said.

Another Louisiana state law adopted in 2019 requires restaurants to indicate on their menus or on a sign if they serve imported shrimp or crawfish, but many restaurants have not complied with it — whether knowingly or unknowingly — and have faced no consequences, Louisiana Illuminator reported. "The new law will differ in that all restaurants, even when serving domestic shrimp or crawfish, must 'clearly display the country of origin in a manner that is easily visible to the consumer,'” the publication added.