Dealers of foreign seafood could face new labeling, licensing rules

The Louisiana Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would usher in new labeling and licensing requirements for companies that import foreign seafood into the state. 

Senate Bill 62, sponsored by Sen. Mike Fesi, R-Houma, cleared the chamber with unanimous support and will head to the House for consideration. 

Fesi’s proposal would adopt new sanitation and labeling laws to prevent processors from misrepresenting foreign seafood as domestic with deceptive packaging that exploits Louisiana cultural references and images. Any imported or commingled seafood product would be required to clearly state the country of origin on its packaging, and commingled products would need to clearly indicate the percentages of imported and domestic catch.  

An influx of cheap foreign seafood has flooded the market in Louisiana, and most restaurants in the state choose to serve imported shrimp and crawfish to patrons who are either oblivious to it or mistakenly believe they’re eating local fare, according to the Louisiana Shrimp Association. The effects have decimated a local industry and unique Louisiana culture while also potentially introducing harmful contaminants into the food supply. 

Because federal inspectors test only a tiny fraction of seafood imports, Louisiana officials have tried to supplement the effort with their own screening. Fesi’s bill would use the state’s commercial seafood permit fees to let the Louisiana Department of Health conduct more inspections and testing of seafood processing plants and levy fines for violations. There are 58 permitted wholesalers of imported seafood in the state. 

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The proposal also makes changes to the state’s current licensing structure for commercial seafood dealers. It divides the permits into classifications for domestic seafood processors, imported seafood processors and a separate one for seafood distributors involved in transporting, storing and selling products that come from processors. 

Under current law, the health department charges commercial seafood permit fees between $150 and $500 per year depending on the company’s gross revenues. It also collects an additional $100 annual “seafood safety fee” from processors and distributors who import seafood from foreign countries. But the fees are not nearly enough to cover the cost of the department’s screening efforts. 

Two separate House proposals address that funding shortfall with new fee structures. Both are pending consideration from the Senate Committee on Natural Resources. 

Sen. Mark Abraham, R-Lake Charles, who spoke in support of Fesi’s bill, said the current funding would allow for only slightly more testing than what the state currently does. 

“We know that restaurants serve more imported seafood than domestic,” Abraham said. “That’s a fact.”

Testing in the United States is far behind that of Europe, which tests 50% of the foreign catch brought into its ports, Abraham said.   

Lawmakers support new fees on Louisiana seafood dealers who import foreign catch

“Sometimes we’re the dumping ground,” he said. “Maybe from this bill, we can lead the rest of the country … Let America know that in Louisiana … we make sure our seafood is safe.” 

Fesi told his colleagues he reached a compromise with the Louisiana Restaurant Association, which initially opposed the bill because its members benefit financially from serving cheap foreign seafood. In a later interview, he said it took a lot of work to get the restaurateurs on board with his legislation, which had been sidelined in the Senate for several weeks. 

The compromise included an amendment that lowered the fines from $5,000 to $1,000 for a first offense, from $10,000 to $2,500 for a second offense, and from $15,000 to $5,000 for a third offense.

“It’s a balancing act,” Abraham said. “We want our seafood to be safe in Louisiana. If it’s domestic, we want it to stay domestic.”