As the city of New Orleans in the US state of Louisiana gears up to host Super Bowl LIX this weekend, SeaD Consulting is looking to shine some light on foreign shrimp being falsely marketed as local. 

On Tuesday (Feb. 4), the New Orleans City Business publication reported that a new round of genetic testing conducted by SeaD, a company based in Galveston, Texas, from Jan. 14-19, at 24 randomly selected restaurants suggested that three establishments were serving foreign, farm-raised shrimp under the guise of "gulf" or "authentic" shrimp.

This revelation comes ahead of Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 9, and on the heels of new legislation that bans serving imported seafood at festivals in the US state of Louisiana. The publication reported that all restaurants sampled by SeaD prominently advertised their shrimp as local, showcasing a troubling discrepancy between marketing and actual sourcing. 

Shrimp and grits. This classic Southern dish combines creamy grits with seasoned shrimp. Photo: Liza Mayer

"While New Orleans has the lowest shrimp fraud rate we've seen in our multi-state study so far, the deception we did uncover is particularly blatant," Erin Williams, an executive at SeaD Consulting, told the publication. She emphasized that the restaurants in question were not merely using suggestive marketing but were explicitly mislabeling their shrimp.

The legal ramifications for misrepresenting imported seafood as local are significant, with potential fines and felony charges at the federal level. The Federal Trade Commission has regulations prohibiting misleading menu descriptions, including imagery that suggests local sourcing. Furthermore, a Louisiana law that went into effect this year imposes stricter penalties for false seafood labeling and mandates that restaurants disclose the country of origin for their seafood.

According to the report, the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force has requested ongoing analysis from SeaD Consulting to eliminate shrimp fraud throughout the state.