Georgia Restaurants Will Be Required to Disclose If Shrimp Is Foreign
On Wednesday, the House of Representatives of the state of Georgia voted 159-8 to pass HB 117, requiring food service establishments to disclose whether they are serving imported shrimp. Once approved by Governor Brian Kemp, Georgia will join Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas in adopting laws combatting misleading advertising of foreign, pond-raised shrimp that has devastated U.S. shrimpers across our southern coastline.
The law requires all privately run food service establishments in Georgia to disclose whether menu items involving shrimp contain imported shrimp either by stating “FOREIGN IMPORTED” on the menu or through a placard visible to the public stating “FOREIGN IMPORTED SHRIMP.”
Existing Shrimp Transparency Laws
With passage through the Georgia General Assembly, there will now be five states in the South Atlantic and Gulf of America regions that have moved to address misleading marketing of foreign, farm-raised shrimp in restaurants:
- Alabama (effective Oct. 2024): Requires all food establishments to disclose whether seafood is imported or domestic and farm-raised or wild-caught.
- Louisiana (strengthened in Jan. 2025): Mandates explicit labeling and disclosure and prohibits misrepresentation of foreign seafood as domestic
- Mississippi (effective July 2025): Requires all seafood labeled as imported or domestic
- Texas (effective Sept. 2025): Prohibits misrepresenting imported shrimp as “Texas,” “Gulf” or “Domestic” shrimp, while requiring disclosure of imported shrimp
Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina are the only states along the southern coastline that have not yet adopted laws. The laws follow the genetic testing of restaurant dishes that demonstrates widespread false advertising and mislabeling of imported shrimp as U.S. wild-caught shrimp. Conducted by SeaD Consulting, the testing was funded by the Southern Shrimp Alliance in the eight shrimp-producing states, along with the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force in Louisiana.
Bill Sponsor Credits Founder of Georgia Commercial Fisherman’s Association
In a Facebook post announcing the House vote, Representative Jesse Petrea credited Georgia Commercial Fisherman’s Association founder Paige Morrison as the reason the legislation exists:
“House Bill 117 is now passed as of today! It now heads to the Governor. This bill simply requires that shrimp sold in food service establishments must be labeled as foreign imports IF they are not domestic. This measure provides transparency for consumers and will benefit our GA Shrimpers. Much thanks goes to Mrs. Paige Morrison for the passage of this bill as a passionate advocate for GA fishermen. Sadly, she recently passed. She deserves credit for this measure as she was my expert advisor and initially brought me the idea and explained how beneficial it could be to our shrimping fleet and consumers.”
Blake Price, director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), celebrated the passage of the shrimp transparency legislation, stating, “HB 117 demonstrates what shrimpers can achieve by advocating for this industry in their communities. All of us owe a debt of gratitude to Mrs. Paige Morrison and the Georgia Commercial Fishermen’s Association for substantially improving the ability to market U.S. wild-caught shrimp in the eighth most populous state in the country. We hope North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida will follow suit quickly.”
More information regarding the legislation can be found here: https://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/69470