Vendor Caught Selling Chinese Crawfish At Louisiana Crawfish Festival

Louisiana is known for fresh seafood, and locals can easily tell the difference between shrimp from Delcambre and shrimp that has been frozen and imported.

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Local folks, whether from Crowley, Baton Rouge, or New Orleans, won't be impressed with imported Crawfish especially.

As of January 1st, a new Louisiana law, Act 148, mandates that all food establishments must clearly state the origin of seafood items on their menus so customers know when seafood is caught locally or imported.

This law also applies to vendors at festivals, and the Louisiana Crawfish Festival is cracking down on those who do not comply with Act 148.

Vendor Caught Selling Chinese Crawfish At Louisiana Crawfish Festival

While restaurants are well within their right to serve imported crawfish, the one place it's best to have locally caught crawfish has to be the Louisiana Crawfish Festival. Mainly because locals can spot the difference in a heartbeat even without the proper signage and that's exactly what happened on Friday.

According to FOX 8, one vendor was caught selling Chinese crawfish by a festival attendee on Friday and failed to display any information about their origin.

Festival Secretary Cisco Gonzales stressed the importance of supporting local fishermen when speaking to FOX 8, saying, "We know how important supporting local seafood is in St. Bernard Parish. I come from a family of fishermen. A lot of my uncles and cousins are still down there doing that, and we want to respect that. We want to make sure our vendors respect that, too."

Four Lafayette restaurants recently violated this same law by serving imported shrimp without proper labeling.

Read More: Four Lafayette Restaurants Broke Louisiana Law on Imported Shrimp