Seafood fraud made headlines in the US states on the Gulf of Mexico coast this fall when testing conducted at multiple "local" seafood festivals caught vendors using imported shrimp and claiming it to be wild-caught.

Now, SeaD Consulting, a Houston, Texas-based firm, says its new genetic testing reveals that seafood fraud is also on the rise in many Mississippi restaurants.

Using its RIGHTTest technology, SeaD said it sampled 44 restaurants in Biloxi, Gulf Shores and other surrounding Mississippi Gulf Coast areas that market "fresh local seafood." It found 17 were selling imported shrimp while marketing it as locally caught white shrimp.

Of the 44 restaurants tested, 24 featured a menu that listed "Royal Red Shrimp" or Pleoticus robustus, a species found in the Gulf of Mexico, the firm reported. SeaD said 92% of the restaurants -- 22 out of 24 -- admitted they were instead serving imported Argentinian red shrimp, Pleoticus muelleri, which the firm described as an "inferior," lower-cost species. 

"The investigation revealed that fraudulent shrimp dishes were often priced as high as $24.95 per plate, meaning consumers are paying top dollar for inauthentic products," SeaD said in a news release.

"On average, diners spent $16.72 per fraudulent dish, with additional costs for gratuities, transportation, and parking further inflating the total," the firm reported.

SeaD said it has conducted a handful of other tests this fall with mixed results. Its RIGHTTest technology found that every vendor at this past October's Lousiana Shrimp Festival & Shrimp Aid 2024 event maintained a "100% local seafood promise."

The same couldn't be said for the 51st Annual National Shrimp Festival in Gulf Shore, Alabama, also in October. SeaD said its testing found that, out of five shrimp dishes sampled, only one contained wild-caught shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico, while the others all used imported farm-raised shrimp.