Why Louisiana is Fighting to End the Fake Shrimp Epidemic Before It Kills Someone

There's a problem with shrimp in America, and Louisiana is fighting to do something about it. Both your health and wallet could be in danger right now. Several times this year, the FDA has had to make recalls on imported shrimp contaminated with radioactive byproducts. At the same time, cancer-causing toxins are being found in imported shrimp; investigations show many restaurants from Shreveport to Monroe might be squeezing some money out of you with fake labels.

Why Cheap and Radioactive Imported Shrimp Are Killing Louisiana in Two Ways

A study found that a shocking majority of restaurants in the Monroe area have 0% compliance with Louisiana's laws about labeling imported and domestic shrimp. Fake shrimp labeling is such an issue in Louisiana, the state founded the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force to ensure customers aren't paying the price for domestic shrimp, but are being served cheaper imported shrimp.

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That's another issue with imported shrimp that both fishers and lawmakers in Louisiana are making a fuss about: how cheap imported shrimp is. The imported seafood industry has done lots of damage to the economy in Louisiana, undercutting local businesses and fishers. The reason imported seafood is always so much cheaper comes down to where it comes from, places like Indonesia, where labor, food testing, and fishing preservation laws allow for abuses that cut corners on price.

The corner-cutting becomes the scariest issue with the imported shrimp crisis going on right now. Remember those several recalls the FDA made on imported shrimp? Each one of those recalls was due to the discovery of Cesium-137 in those shrimp, a radioactive contaminant. The FDA assures that the blame is on those relaxed regulations in places where we import shrimp.

The Urgent Fix: How We Can Save Gulf Seafood

Shrimp industry groups across Louisiana and the Gulf are pushing forward an effort to get the government to step in and do something about the imported shrimp crisis. The ask from the government is simple: pay more attention to the testing imported seafood must go through, and slow down how much imported shrimp can make it onto the market.