You’ve heard of financial fraud or consumer fraud — but how about shrimp fraud?
You may love a weekend brunch or afternoon meal at a Tampa Bay area waterfront restaurant, enjoying what you think is locally caught seafood.
But a new genetic testing study by SeaD Consulting revealed that only two out of the 44 restaurants it sampled in Tampa and St. Petersburg were really serving locally caught shrimp.
Between Jan. 6-10, the SeaD team ordered shrimp dishes at a variety of randomly selected Tampa Bay area eateries.
Only Salt Shack on the Bay in Tampa and Stillwaters Tavern in St. Petersburg were found to be serving local Gulf shrimp, according to the consulting firm. They did not release the names of the other restaurants that were not doing so.
Using RIGHTTesst, genetic testing technology developed in collaboration with Florida State University, SeaD chief operating officer Erin Williams said researchers were able to determine the origin of each shrimp.
“You only have a number of commercially harvested species out of the Gulf of Mexico,” she said. “If you genetically test and it’s not a species out of the Gulf or the South Atlantic, you know it’s not a locally caught shrimp.”
According to SeaD, restaurant owners may be importing farm-raised prawns from places like India and Vietnam. Williams said that vannamei or whiteleg shrimp is a commonly imported species.
Seafood Watch found that India is the world’s third-largest producer of whiteleg shrimp and the world’s top exporter to the U.S.
The Federal Trade Commission says it’s illegal to even create the false impression that eateries are serving locally caught seafood, but some still find a way.
“So that could be anything from nets hanging on the wall, pictures of shrimp boats, signs that say ‘Eat Local,', ‘fresh seafood,’ things of that nature,” Williams said.
And this fake claim to freshness is hurting more than just the diner.
"The domestic shrimping industry is hanging on by a thread at this point due to missed market opportunities,” she said.
SeaD’s founder, David Williams, stressed that consumers should be wary of being charged a premium for what they think is locally caught seafood.
In addition to making sure they get what they pay for, he said that customers should hold restaurateurs accountable.
“Restaurants have no incentive to do the right thing if there’s no repercussions,” he said. “And so the restaurants that actually do serve Gulf shrimp and are proud to serve Gulf shrimp are at a competitive disadvantage in a competitive marketplace.”
He also pointed out that the lowest shrimp fraud rate in SeaD's latest studies was from the Baton Rouge area in Louisiana. It posted a fraud rate of only 30%, compared with the Tampa Bay area's 96%.
David Williams said there's a pretty obvious reason.
“You can see how important state legislation is to try helping the coastal fishing industry and also allowing consumers to get what they paid for,” he said.
Louisiana’s updated seafood labeling law, which went into effect this year, places strict limits and penalties on misleading labeling in restaurants.
SeaD officials hope that the Florida Department of Agriculture’s existing mislabeling law will be enforced more strictly in the future so that the Tampa Bay area’s reputation as a top seafood destination stays intact.
Currently, the Agriculture Department's website has no fines or penalties if the law is broken, and existing regulations mostly focus on grouper.
And for as for knowing what's on your plate, the easiest way to know if your shrimp is locally caught, Erin Williams said, is to just ask.
