More than half of Alexandria-area restaurants sampled serve imported shrimp

A new spate of undercover seafood testing at restaurants in the Alexandria area found more than half of the sampled eateries serving imported shrimp. 

SeaD Consulting, a food testing company that has been making headlines for uncovering foreign-sourced shrimp sold as local catch at restaurants and festivals across the Gulf Coast, announced Wednesday that 54% of the Central Louisiana restaurants it sampled were serving imported shrimp — and several were lying to their customers about it.  

The company’s use of genetic testing found that 11 of the 24 restaurants sampled offered authentic Gulf of Mexico-caught shrimp, while the remaining 13 sold farm-raised shrimp to diners. Six of those 13 restaurants, roughly 25% of the total, were serving imported fare in an “explicitly fraudulent” manner, meaning they claimed the shrimp was domestic when it wasn’t. 

SeaD collected the samples June 3-4 from restaurants across Alexandria and nearby Pineville. The findings are relatively on par with testing the company has conducted in other Louisiana cities. Its testing in the Shreveport area from March uncovered a 58% fraud rate. 

“This is about trust,” said Rodney Olander, chairman of the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force. “Alexandria is a proud river city with deep Louisiana roots, and its people deserve to know when they’re getting wild-caught Gulf shrimp — or when they’re being served imported farm-raised substitutes passed off as local. Having one in four restaurants being explicitly fraudulent is not right.”

In December, the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force, an advisory panel for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, asked SeaD Consulting to analyze shrimp from restaurants across the state in an effort to eliminate consumer seafood fraud. Its analysis includes sampling batches of 24 randomly selected restaurants in different cities across the state.

It is illegal under federal and state law to mislabel imported seafood as local and can result in fines or other penalties.

Local seafood was once easy to find in Louisiana, but an influx of cheap foreign catch — particularly shrimp and crawfish — has flooded the market over the past two decades. 

For more than a decade, Louisiana law has specifically required restaurants and other food establishments to state on their menus the country of origin of any shrimp and crawfish being served. The same requirement applies to food vendors at fairs and festivals. 

A 2023 review of state enforcement records revealed many restaurants had not complied with the law. State health inspectors issued thousands of citations to restaurants but levied no fines against them, drawing criticism from state lawmakers and local fishermen.

SeaD Consulting launched its testing efforts last year using undercover inspectors to purchase shrimp dishes from restaurants and festival vendors. The inspectors run the shrimp through a rapid field testing kit that examines seafood tissue genetics. 

SeaD’s investigation of the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City led to public outrage when 4 out of 5 vendors there were found to have fraudulently served foreign shrimp. 

Dave Williams, a commercial fisheries scientist and founder of SeaD Consulting, said consumers can play an important role in combating seafood fraud. They should always ask restaurant staff where their seafood comes from, look for clear menu labeling indicating the country of origin and report suspicions of seafood fraud to local or state health officials, Williams said.

The company does not publicly disclose the names of the restaurants that fraudulently serve imported shrimp, opting instead to highlight businesses that are following the law and serve domestic shrimp. 

The Central Louisiana restaurants tested that offer locally caught seafood were:

• Brocato’s Breakfast, Alexandria
• Bucket’s Crawfish & Seafood, Pineville
• Crawfish Port Inc., Alexandria
• Crazy Cajun, Pineville
• Deborge’s Crawfish, Alexandria, LA 71301
• Koal’s Bar-B-Que, Alexandria
• Pit Grill Diner, Alexandria
• Red River Seafood & Sushi, Alexandria
• Rosie Jo’s, Alexandria
• Rotolo’s Craft & Crust, Alexandria
• Swamp Daddy’s Crawfish, Alexandria

“These restaurants are doing it right,” Williams said. “They’re supporting the local economy and giving customers what they’re paying for — the flavor of Louisiana, from the docks to the table.”