A bill seeking to crack down on a way to skirt Louisiana’s seafood labeling laws is awaiting Governor Landry’s signature. It’s called co-mingling – mixing imported shrimp with domestically-caught shrimp and passing the whole lot off as domestic shrimp. Lafitte Representative Tim Kerner, who filed House Bill 857, says this is no oversight – those who are doing it are doing so maliciously.
“You’re doing it to benefit yourself by buying cheap imports and mixing them with some American shrimp and passing them off as domestic,” Kerner said.
Cheri Blanchard, a Louisiana board member of the Southern Shrimp Alliance, says it’s sometimes unclear exactly who is doing this in order to sell the shrimp at a premium price and keep the profits.
“I would think the most potential would be at the supplier level, going to the restaurant; but there’s also a really high potential that the restaurant itself can be doing that,” Blanchard noted.
House Bill 857 passed both houses of legislature without a single dissenting vote. Kerner says those caught mixing foreign shrimp with domestic shrimp will face substantial penalties.
“First offense, $15,000, second offense, $25,000 and third offense, $50,000,” Kerner explained.