Officials are mulling a ban on imported seafood at festivals in the US state of Louisiana after genetic tests requested by domestic shrimpers found most of the vendors were selling imported shrimp at a popular festival, Louisiana Illuminator reported.

The online news outlet reported that four out of five vendors evaluated in the Gulf of Mexico fishing community of Morgan City were serving foreign farm-raised shrimp passed off as wild local products.

Sea D Consulting, a Houston, Texas-based firm owned by Dave Williams, performed the testing at a five-day event called the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival, which was held over the US Labor Day holiday weekend.

The food safety tech company recently developed a rapid seafood species identification test. The firm's owner, Dave Williams, said Gulf of Mexico shrimpers in Louisiana invited him to the festival to try out his technology. The results found that only one vendor was selling Gulf of Mexico shrimp while the others were farm-raised, likely from India and Ecuador.

"The person getting the revenue knew, and the people at the top definitely, definitely, definitely knew," he told the news outlet.

The firm's test kits are discreet and fit in a suitcase. He said the underlying technology has been scrutinized in a peer-reviewed journal.

In response, festival organizers posted that going forward, all vendors would have to comply with a new seafood labeling law -- going into effect Jan. 1, 2025 -- requiring vendors to disclose the country of origin of seafood.

But for Louisiana representative Jessica Domangue, a Republican from Houma, that doesn't go far enough. 

"Louisiana has a proud history of harvest festivals across the state, and the negative publicity surrounding this incident will be damaging to our state’s tourist economy,” she wrote in an open letter to organizers. “For example, consider the absurdity if vendors openly used imported strawberries at the Strawberry Festival to make a 'quick extra buck' and undermine the local farmers the festival is supposed to celebrate. Please take a step back and realize this is precisely how the general public views this incident."

This comes as the leader of a state seafood promotion board said legislation could be in the works to eliminate imported seafood at festivals around Louisiana, KRVS reported.

Samantha Carroll, executive director of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion & Marketing Board, told KRVS that her office plans to ask Louisiana lawmakers to consider new legislation directly addressing festivals in an effort to prevent similar situations.

She said the board is currently working with the state agriculture department to expand seafood testing next year. However, all of it is aimed at wholesale processor facilities rather than restaurants and festivals.