A recent audit of New Orleans restaurants has discovered that the rate of shrimp authenticity has declined over the last year. SeaD Consulting diners ordered shrimp dishes at 44 restaurants, and of those, 11 served imported shrimp. Chief Operating Officer Erin Williams says of those 11, nine of them misrepresented the origins of their shrimp.
“Some of those actually had on the menu that their Gulf shrimp or Louisiana shrimp, when testing revealed otherwise; and others just said, ‘shrimp dish.’ When we asked for more information, they verbally said that it was Gulf shrimp or American wild-caught shrimp,” Williams explained.
Williams says she’s taken aback by the relatively high number of New Orleans restaurants serving imported shrimp, including the two that were up front about it.
“Quite a big number, if you think about the scope of things; especially in a city known for its cuisine and a destination for people to enjoy good Louisiana seafood,” Williams noted.
Williams says that contrasts to an audit SeaD Consulting did in February 2025, which found that three of the 24 restaurants it dined at misrepresented the origins of their shrimp.
“It went from 13% to roughly 20%, which means one-in-five dishes we found were misrepresented,” Williams said.
Williams says among the restaurants misrepresenting the origins of their shrimp, it’s possible that the imported shrimp may have been mixed in with domestic shrimp – which is now against the law in Louisiana.
SeaD Consulting uses what it calls the RIGHTTest, which uses genetic testing to determine whether the shrimp is of a species that is not native to U.S. waters.