The U.S. Federal Trade Commission has issued new guidance warning restaurants that any décor implying the seafood they serve is local when it isn’t is illegal and could result in fines.
The new guidance, in part, stems from lobbying by organizations like the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), a U.S. domestic shrimp advocacy organization, and other groups. The push by the SSA comes as the organization has pushed to combat influxes of cheaper shrimp from overseas via trade action.
“False implied claims are illegal. Everyone knows you can’t just lie in your ads,” the FTC said in a blog post,
The blog post offered up a vision of a hypothetical seafood restaurant that has tricked people into thinking the seafood on offer on the menu was caught nearby – even if the seafood was imported and farmed overseas.
“Imagine a waterfront restaurant with beachy décor. Fishing nets hang from the ceiling, and pictures of shrimp and fishing boats cover the wall,” the FTC said. “You sit down at a table draped in red, white, and blue, and your server, dressed in a shirt that says, ‘We catch ‘em, you eat ‘em!’ hands you a menu.”
In the hypothetical example, the menu states, “Eat local! Try our seasonal fresh catch of the day!” The post’s hypothetical restaurant also features social media images displaying several posts of fishermen hooking fish and scooping nets full of shrimp.
“Given this scene, would you be surprised to find out that the seasonal fresh catch was actually farmed seafood, frozen overseas, and shipped in?” the FTC asked. “The restaurant never said it outright. But, by using photos of fishermen and fishing boats and saying things like ‘Eat local,” and ‘We catch ‘em,’ the decorations, menus, and social media may give people what the FTC calls a net impression that the restaurant serves fresh, local fish and shrimp.”
Under FTC rulemaking, those images constitute illegally misleading customers, and those images could be subject to hefty fines.
The restaurant example is similar to Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S.A.-based Mary Mahoney’s, which recently pled guilty to federal government charges that it misbranded imported seafood as local and agreed to pay USD 1.35 million (EUR 1.2 million) in fines; however, the example is hypothetical, an FTC spokesperson told SeafoodSource.
In that case, seafood distributor and wholesaler Quality Poultry and Seafood, which is also based in Biloxi, admitted to conspiring with the restaurant and agreed to pay USD 1 million (EUR 894,000) in forfeitures and a criminal fine of USD 150,000 (EUR 134,000).
“Sometimes, people try to bend the rules by using pictures, symbols, or other things to make people believe something about what they are selling without actually saying the words. That’s an implied claim. If it’s not true, it’s just as illegal as an outright lie,” the FTC said.
The agency noted that ads are not just commercials, social media posts, websites, or labels.
“Other things like menus, restaurant décor, or even T-shirts and hats worn by servers or customers can be ads, too. The same rules apply. Don’t make claims you can’t back up,” the agency said.
The new guidance came in part as a result of ...