A bill filed for the upcoming legislative session would add an additional layer in the fight against contaminated shrimp. Currently, the Louisiana Department of Health is the only state agency authorized to seize and destroy imported shrimp found to be contaminated at ports. Under a bill filed by Houma Republican Representative Jessica Domangue, the Department of Agriculture would be added to that list. The bill has the support of Blake Price, the director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
“India, Vietnam, and more recently, Indonesia, supply more than half of the shrimp consumed in the United States. Unfortunately, they’re also the countries that supply the vast majority of shrimp contaminated with banned antibiotics and fungicides,” Price explained.
Price notes that only a very small percentage of imported shrimp is ever tested for banned antibiotics.
“Currently, our federal FDA inspects less than half of a percent of these imported seafood products and currently lacks the authority to destroy shrimp deemed unfit for consumption,” Price said.
Price says not only is untested imported shrimp putting people’s health at risk, but it’s also doing a number to the local shrimping industry.
“It’s created a huge amount of attrition in our fleets and at our ports because this cheaper, often contaminated, product has flooded our markets,” Price said.
Representative Domangue is carrying the bill on behalf of Agriculture and Forestry Commissioner Mike Strain.
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