Mississippi

In wake of Mississippi seafood scandal, Alabama is set to enact mandatory disclosure of origin – Yellowhammer News

Published

3 months ago

June 3, 2024

In wake of Mississippi seafood scandal, Alabama is set to enact mandatory disclosure of origin – Yellowhammer News

On the tail end of a high-profile seafood fraud case in Mississippi where a restaurant admitted to selling mislabeled imported fish as local Gulf seafood, a new Alabama law will go into effect on October 1, 2024 to prevent similar deception.

The Mississippi case, which concluded with the restaurant forfeiting $1.35 million and pleading guilty to conspiracy and wire fraud, was a consequence of serving seafood to customers made with low-grade, frozen fish from Africa, Suriname, and India — claiming they were caught in the Gulf of Mexico. In doing so, customers were charged substantially higher prices for their meals.

Alabama State Rep. Chip Brown (R-Hollinger’s Island) introduced a bill requiring Alabama restaurants disclose whether the seafood they serve is either domestic or imported. Governor Kay Ivey signed that bill into law, and later this year, it will go into effect.

State Rep. Brown said that the law is needed given the increasing prevalence of foreign seafood in Alabama that is being incorrectly labeled and priced, as is well evidenced in the Mississippi scandal.

Restaurants in Alabama to be required to disclose country of origin of fish and shrimp

“Alabama’s commercial seafood industry plays a vital role in our economy, and with foreign caught products flooding the U.S. market, it is essential that we support it, protect it, and promote it,” Brown said this week.

“By requiring disclosure if seafood is domestic or imported, we can encourage the use of products caught in Alabama, ensure that consumers are informed about the food they consume, and hold restaurants accountable if they commit similar fraud.”

Specifically, the new law requires restaurants disclose whether seafood is domestic or imported on the menu listing for dishes they sell or on “conspicuous signage” plainly visible to diners and patrons.

Advertisements for seafood products and dishes sold by food service establishments are also required to include the information under the bill’s provisions. Additionally, the law mandates that the same methods must be used to disclose if fish or shrimp products are farm-raised or caught in the wild.

The law will go into effect October 1, 2024 and the Alabama State Department of Public Health will be responsible for enforcing the new rules.

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @ShipleyAusten

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Mississippi

Mississippi alligator breaks 2 state records and is possibly a world record

Published

3 hours ago

September 10, 2024

Press Room

Mississippi alligator breaks 2 state records and is possibly a world record

‘When she came up she was under the bottom of the boat in between the pontoons. She was slapping the boat with her tail and all that. I thought she was going to knock my motor off for a minute.’

After two frustrating nights on the last weekend of the season, a Mississippi hunter caught the alligator he’d been after, but what he didn’t realize when he pulled it in his boat was that not only did it break two state records, it’s possibly a world record.

Jason Ullendorf said a cousin of his was buying a part at a boat shop last week when he was told about an alligator in the Pascagoula River. The alligator had been spotted near a sandbar and had been making people visiting the location uncomfortable.

“We figured we’d help them out and get it out of there,” Ullendorf said. “We went down there to look at it, and it was a pretty good gator. It’s kind of crazy how it happened.”

Catching it was easier said than done, though. Ullendorf and members of his hunting party repeatedly hooked the alligator, only to have the hooks pull out or break off when the alligator would go under logs.

“We chased it from about 9 o’clock until about 3 o’clock in the morning,” Ullendorf said. “By then we’d lost all our hooks.”

More: Hunters bag Mississippi alligator weighing almost 700 pounds

Another long night of hunting alligators

The following day, Ullendorf bought more hooks and returned to the river with only one other hunter, Joseph Mangano of Richton. Fortunately, they found the alligator in the same spot as the night before. Unfortunately, it was shaping up to be a replay of the night before with the two repeatedly hooking the alligator, only to have the hooks pull free.

“It was frustrating,” Mangano said. “At one point, we got so frustrated we left it and an hour later started again. We knew we would hook it, but we were going to have to get it out of the trees.”

At 4:45 a.m., the hunters got a break. The alligator surfaced in open water near the sandbar. The two hooked the alligator with a rod and reel and then got a hand line on it as the alligator towed the two men and their 18-foot pontoon boat upriver. Everything was going relatively smoothly until they pulled the gator near the boat.

“When she came up she was under the bottom of the boat in between the pontoons,” Ullendorf said. “She was slapping the boat with her tail and all that. I thought she was going to knock my motor off for a minute.”

More: ‘The size and mass of his head is unreal.’ Mississippi alligator hunters bag 800-pound giant

Mississippi hunters suspect their alligator is a female

The two got the alligator in their boat and while Ullendorf referred to it as a “she,” he didn’t think it was a female at the time. This alligator was too big to be a female, and the longest female alligator ever recorded in the state was caught in 2022 by Jim Denson and measured 10 feet, 2 inches.

“As soon as she came up we said, ‘That’s a male,’” Ullendorf said. “We never second-guessed it.”

But then they did. When to two took the alligator to Mangano’s business in Richton, Running M Meat Company, they discovered the alligator didn’t have male sex organs.

“I couldn’t believe it at first,” Ullendorf said. “We called Andrew Arnett to come down and verify it. I didn’t believe it at all.”

Is this Mississippi alligator a world record?

Arnett is the head of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Alligator Program. He confirmed it was a female and certified it at 11 feet, 3/4 inches long and 324 pounds. Not only was it a state record for longest female, it was the new state record for heaviest.

However, it may have broken another record, if only it existed. Multiple internet searches came up empty for an official world record for female alligators, but some states keep official records. According to searches by the hunters and Arnett, the longest female alligator on record before Ullendorf’s was 10 feet, 6.75 inches long and it was caught in Florida. If that’s true, Ullendorf has the new world record for longest female alligator.

“Just from what I’ve seen online, I think so,” Arnett said.

Do you have a story idea? Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com.

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Mississippi

Mississippi Mass Choir new album

Published

10 hours ago

September 10, 2024

Press Room

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) – The Mississippi Mass Choir has a new album! We Still Believe is available!

The director and some choir members joined Studio 3 to discuss the songs.

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Mississippi

Fascinating Snake Species Found Along the Mississippi River

Published

18 hours ago

September 9, 2024

Press Room

Fascinating Snake Species Found Along the Mississippi River

The Mississippi River stretches 2,350 miles from Minnesota to Louisiana, serving as a vital commercial waterway and a habitat for diverse wildlife. It’s home to abundant fish like largemouth bass and catfish, as well as waterfowl like wood ducks and Canadian geese. But what about snakes? These reptiles are abundant in and along the famous river and are worthy of analysis. Today’s video will explore 12 snake species living around the Mississippi River.

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