U.S. Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Mississippi) has introduced a bill that, if passed, would require all seafood sold in the country to have a large label identifying the country of origin and method of production.
The Let Americans Buy with Explicit Labeling (LABEL) Act would require country of origin and production information to be printed on seafood packaging and displayed “in a font size at least as large as the product name.” According to Hyde-Smith, some of the information printed on imported seafood products are too small, preventing American consumers from differentiating between domestic and foreign seafood.
“Mississippi’s seafood industry is already battling a flood of cheap imports, much of which don’t meet the same safety standards our domestic producers uphold,” Hyde-Smith said in a release. “This bill would ensure American consumers know exactly where their seafood comes from while giving our domestic fishermen and producers a fair chance to compete.”
The federal legislation comes amid growing scrutiny over seafood labeling in Gulf Coast states, where recent scandals have highlighted labeling issues and the abundance of imported seafood – especially shrimp – being offered to customers as locally sourced.
DNA testing conducted by SeaD Consulting has revealed a high rate of imported shrimp being sold at restaurants in communities around the Gulf, even reporting imported shrimp being sold at two festivals established to promote local shrimp in 2024.
In June, the South Carolina Shrimpers Association sued dozens of local restaurants accused of falsely presenting imported shrimp as domestic caught.
In another high-profile case, Biloxi, Mississippi, U.S.A.-based seafood wholesaler and retailer Quality Poultry and Seafood (QPS) was banned from importing food for five years over a conspiracy that saw it and others mislabeling imports and selling the foreign seafood as higher-priced domestic products. Local seafood establishment Mary Mahoney’s Old French House was also caught up in the scandal, admitting that it had falsely labeled imported seafood for multiple years.
Gulf Coast states have responded by introducing new labeling laws; earlier this year, Mississippi passed a law requiring grocery stores, markets, restaurants, and other vendors to clearly label their seafood as either imported or domestic.
“American producers have been undercut by foreign producers dumping their low-quality seafood into our markets,” U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), who introduced the bill with Hyde-Smith, said in a release. “There’s no better source for fish and seafood than Alabama ponds and the Gulf of America, and we want people to know where their food is coming from.”
The American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA), Louisiana Shrimp Association, Southern Shrimp Alliance, and Organized Seafood Association of Alabama have all backed the bill.
