Genetic testing from SeaD consulting has shown that for the second year in a row, all shrimp served at the Louisiana Shrimp Festival in New Orleans was indeed authentic, wild-caught Gulf shrimp. David Williams founded the company a year ago and began using what’s called the RIGHTTest to determine the species of the shrimp – specifically whether it’s Pacific white shrimp, which is not native to U.S. waters. Williams says through his efforts, several restaurants which had been serving imported shrimp have changed to domestic shrimp.
“When we go into a market, we definitely see a lot more increased requests for Gulf shrimp from restaurants. And we can see we’re making an effect, because the demand for shrimp is a lot higher now,” Williams noted.
Williams says with more restaurants switching to domestic shrimp, that’s also helping the local shrimping industry, which has been struggling in recent years.
“This time last year, it was like a ghost town. Now we have the community starting to come back and starting to respect themselves,” Williams said.
A law that went into effect this year requires restaurants and food vendors to specify whether the seafood they serve is imported or not. While the labeling is usually applied to shrimp, the law actually applies to all seafood. As such, Williams says his company will be testing other seafood in all parts of the country in the years to come.
“In Louisiana, there’s almost certainly going to be oysters and crawfish, because those two industries need a lot of protection,” Williams said.
