Mississippi Business Journal
Seafood Labeling Laws: Protecting consumers and the integrity of the industry
By Lisa Monti
Oysters and shrimp, two of coastal Mississippi’s prized natural resources, are top of mind for Ryan Bradley, a fifth-generation commercial fisherman and executive director of Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United.
Bradley said when the fisheries group was created in 1974, the mission was to inform elected officials about the needs of the seafood industry. In the early 20th century, Biloxi was known as the seafood capital of the world, and the industry “was actually bigger than it is now,” he said.
Today, seafood continues to create jobs and contribute to the economy. “It’s something that our families have been doing for many, many generations. It’s very culturally and economically important to these local communities,” said Bradley.
Then and now, any change to the industry takes time, whether it involves Mother Nature or making laws.
“We’re just now recovering from the 2019 Bonnet Carré Spillway disaster,” said Bradley, referring to the freshwater intrusion into coastal waters. “The oyster reefs are finally coming back strong and it’s a really beautiful thing.”
Currently, the biggest challenge for Bradley’s group is “trying to defend public access to these historic oyster reefs in Mississippi. There’s been some laws that have been passed in recent years that sought to privately lease some of these historic natural public oyster reefs.”
For shrimpers and others, the leading issue is seafood labeling, which the group began lobbying for 16 years ago.
“This is about local fishermen working in their natural environment, not being able to compete against an epidemic of fraud that’s taken place where distributors of seafood are mislabeling the country of origin on what they’re selling,” said Bradley. “How many jobs could we have saved if we had acted sooner?”
He said the industry is supporting genetic testing of different seafood species and focusing on shrimp. “What we’ve uncovered is this epidemic of fraud all over the country misrepresenting products as domestic when in fact it’s foreign, oftentimes farm raised in horrible conditions. They’re really deceiving the public and its unfortunate.”
Last year, lawmakers in Jackson and Washington took steps to amp up the use of seafood labeling.
The Mississippi Seafood Labeling Law went into effect, requiring wholesalers, processors, retailers and food service establishments to label seafood as domestic or imported. “We are glad to see that the truth in labeling legislature not only in Mississippi, but in many states across the country to tackle this truth in labeling for seafood,” Bradley said.
Bradley said it is important for the labeling to reach the consumer level by requiring restaurants to declare on their menus if the seafood is harvested, raised and processed in the U.S. or outside. He believes the labeling to promote domestic seafood will benefit restaurants by increasing their business.
“We’re going to see that the demand is going to increase for Mississippi seafood and that’s a great thing,” he said. “That’s going to keep our fishermen working and our communities thriving.”
The state law is enforced by the Department of Marine Resources in the southern part of the state and by the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce statewide.
MDMR Executive Director, Joe Spraggins, called the new law “a pivotal step toward restoring consumer trust and safeguarding the integrity of our Gulf Coast heritage.”
At the federal level, Mississippi’s Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith late last year introduced legislation “to ensure all seafood, whether wild-caught or farm raised, is clearly labeled with its 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 appear prominently on packaging or display materials, in a font size at least as large as the product name, so consumers can easily see and understand it when shopping.
“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,” said Hyde-Smith in announcing the legislation. “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.”
Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville joined Hyde-Smith in introducing the measure which has been referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.
“There is strong support from Mississippi and Alabama,” said Bradley of the legislation. “We’re going to be watching that one to see how that goes.”
As the new state labeling rules are put into place and Hyde-Smith’s federal legislation makes it way through the Senate, the seafood industry will be waiting for their impact.
“We’ve had a lot of challenges with the seafood industry with disasters like the spillway, and our poor fishermen have weathered it all,” said Bradley. “They really need all the support they can get and a great way for the average consumer to do so is to ask every time they eat seafood, hey, where is this coming from?”