Louisiana lawmakers push for protections against dangerous foreign seafood

BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — State and federal politicians are working to crack down on imported seafood they say hurts local business and can be dangerous for your health.

In Louisiana, the seafood industry has an economic impact of nearly $2.5 billion a year. One in every 70 jobs is related to the industry. That is why lawmakers are taking a closer look at seafood brought from foreign countries they believe undercut prices and are not healthy for consumption in some cases.

“They have different health standards because the way they track and trace and determine [if there is] bacteria is not as sophisticated as that of America,” said Rep. Troy Carter, D-Louisiana.

Congressman Carter and Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Louisiana, are bringing a bill to allow the FDA to destroy imported seafood they deem to be unsafe to eat.

“Currently, billions of pounds of uninspected foreign seafood continue to enter the country, causing major health concerns. God only knows what’s in the shipments that enter through our ports. This legislation provides the FDA with the authority to destroy illegal seafood imports and ensure they do not reach American markets,” Higgins said.

It is in partnership with legislation they’re also sponsoring that would hold foreign seafood processors to the same standards as domestic ones.

“It’s easy for someone to then add a secondary bootleg market to get that shrimp, sell it at a much cheaper price, which then undercuts the clean produce as being provided by fishermen who have gone the right route,” Carter said.

They hope that allowing the FDA to get rid of any dangerous seafood, it can keep people safer and push them to buy locally.

“That’s why we always promote good Louisiana seafood, good Louisiana shrimp, oysters, crawfish and the like because we know without a doubt the estuaries that it comes from,” Carter said.

A number of bills were passed in the Louisiana legislative session to help with this issue.

One new law requires restaurants to label if they are using foreign seafood. It also tries to prevent deceptive labeling to make people think foreign seafood is from Louisiana.

Bills passed by the Louisiana Legislature:

• Act 756: Transfers Seafood Safety Task Force to the Department of Culture, Recreation, and Tourism to study ways to improve safety of seafood.
• Act 667: Every seafood processor has to get a commercial seafood permit.
• Act 787: Increases the fees for imported seafood.
• Act 561: Bans using imported seafood in school meals.
• Act 148: Requires restaurants to label if they are using imported seafood.