Louisiana lawmakers pass a law that tackles seafood mislabeling

NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Louisiana state lawmakers passed Senate Bill 166 during the 2024 legislative session. It cracks down on requirements for labeling domestic and foreign seafood. It means seafood businesses are prohibited from falsely claiming their seafood is domestic.

State Senator Patrick Connick got the bill passed.

Connick points to a recent admission by the popular Biloxi restaurant Mary Mahoney’s Old French House in Biloxi as proof. One of the owners plead guilty to buying over 29 tons of foreign seafood between 2013 and 2019, passing it off to customers as Gulf of Mexico seafood.

“That’s deceptive trade practices,” Connick said. “You’re buying an inferior product you’re putting a quality label on it and you’re lying. “

Todd Percle said he loves catching shrimp in Bayou Segnette.

Percle said fishing hasn’t been easy lately. He can’t sell the shrimp because importers are bringing in shrimp and marketing it as a Louisiana product.

“Can’t get any money for the shrimp anymore,” Percle said.

Percle said those false claims had prevented him from selling shrimp for his desired price.

“It makes the price go down. A lot of shrimpers are selling their boats Because of that. You can’t get the price for the shrimp that you catch.”

The Louisiana Department of Health will enforce this new rule. It also says sellers must display a disclaimer on their menu stating that their product came from outside of the United States.

Connick said this law will take effect in January 2025 and the businesses who violate the rules could face fines up to $2,000.

“They’ll start getting hit with fines and they’re going to change their ways,” he said. “If you want to buy the product you can. We can prevent these products from coming in, but we can prevent them from using our heritage and culture our product when it’s not.”

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