Acadiana restaurants were cited almost 80 times last year for failing to disclose the origin of their shrimp.
In Louisiana, any food service establishment that serves imported seafood must disclose on their menus that the seafood is imported and its country of origin. Restaurants that don't use menus must hang signs saying their seafood is from "a foreign country." To see the rules, click here.
This week, independent non-profit newspaper The Louisiana Illuminator posted a story about the citations issued by the state Department of Health during 2025. They had made a public records request for the information and LDH created a spreadsheet of the violations for the newspaper. We made a public records request for that spreadsheet; you can see it by scrolling down. In Louisiana, a public records request and any response to it are, also, public records.
To read the Illuminator's story, click here.
We took a look at the list to see how many citations were issued to Acadiana restaurants. Many were repeat offenders, meaning the number of citations did not equate to the number of restaurants.
Here are the numbers for citations issued to Acadiana restaurants, by parish, for 2025:
Acadia Parish: 10 citations
Iberia Parish: Four citations
Jeff Davis Parish: Two citations
Lafayette Parish: 32 citations
St. Landry Parish: 10 citations
St. Martin Parish: Two citations
St. Mary Parish: 12 citations
Vermilion Parish: Seven citations
Some of the restaurants cited were chains, like Popeyes, and some were not. There were citations listed for restaurants all over the state, including one in Grand Isle.
The Illuminator reports that these figures "mark the agency’s efforts to step up enforcement after years of light-handed treatment while Louisiana’s seafood industry complained of a massive influx of foreign seafood. Two years earlier, the health department documented more than 2,600 violations but did not issue a single fine over that period because the Louisiana Legislature failed to clarify penalties in a 2019 revision to the law. Since 2024, the legislature has passed sweeping changes to state seafood laws affecting wholesalers, restaurants, food trucks, grocery stores and other establishments across the state. These included heavier fines for violators and strict prohibitions against misleading branding. They also gave authority to the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry and the Louisiana Seafood Promotion Board to assist in enforcement efforts."
Here's the spreadsheet:
