(KMDL-FM) Baton Rouge is Louisiana’s capital city. It is where all of our state’s laws are debated, reviewed, and enacted. In a city that should be the state’s shining example of honesty, transparency, and support for Louisiana, Baton Rouge restaurants are offering a giant middle finger to Louisiana’s shrimping and fishing families.
Yes, right there in the shadow of Billy “I Love Louisiana Seafood” Nungesser and his “Louisiana Seafood Cookoff,” there are countless Baton Rouge restaurants that are not only serving inferior imported shrimp, but they dare to claim the shrimp they serve is “wild-caught. “
Yes, I do hold Lt Governor Nungesser as a responsible party. He is our spokesperson for Louisiana Seafood and Louisiana Tourism. Do we really want to invite visitors to come sample seafood that isn’t ours? Billy, you need to do better by the people of Louisiana. Pretend like you’re sucking up to Anderson Cooper after a hurricane; it worked once, maybe it would work again.
Louisiana Has an Imported Shrimp Problem Exacerbated by Lies
SeaD Consulting first came to us more than a year ago with information that several vendors at the Louisiana Shrimp and Petroleum Festival in Morgan City were not following Louisiana seafood labeling laws. Many of those vendors were caught selling imported shrimp and calling it Louisiana.
The latest test done by SeaD Consulting on behalf of the Louisiana Shrimp Alliance found that the “misrepresentation rate” in Baton Rouge regarding shrimp and its origin had risen from 21% in April to 27% in an August sampling.
To add insult to injury for Louisiana Shrimpers and their families, 100% of the shrimp found to be imported by SeaD genetic testing were advertised and identified as domestic.
A breakdown of the April 2026 Baton Rouge test found that 30 of 44 dishes tested were found to be American Wild Caught; that’s 68%. Nine of the 44 dishes tested were found to be imported or farm-raised and were explicitly misrepresented as Wild Caught; that is 21%…