Louisiana Seafood Sellers Now Keep Purchase Records for Six Months, Under a Law by Rep. Jessica Domangue

Since Aug. 1, Louisiana seafood retailers have had to keep their purchase records for at least six months and make them available for inspection by the state. Act 172, by state Rep. Jessica Domangue of Houma, gives the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry a way to check where a store's seafood came from.

It says records of all seafood purchases by retailers "shall be maintained for at least six months from the date the seafood was purchased" and "shall be available for inspection by the department." A retailer who fails to keep the records, or who knowingly creates or submits false or fraudulent ones, is subject to civil penalties set by the agriculture commissioner. The act does not name an amount.

State Agriculture Commissioner Mike Strain told lawmakers that without invoices, officials typically need a lab test to determine where the shrimp came from, and that testing is expensive. "This just allows us to go in and look at the records," Strain told the House Agriculture Committee in March, according to the Louisiana Illuminator. "Generally the records will suffice." When the bill reached a Senate committee, he said most businesses already keep wholesale invoices for several years for tax purposes, and described the records as "a degree of traceability," the Illuminator reported in its April coverage.

Louisiana already has rules on what shoppers and diners are told. State law requires processors and distributors to label imported seafood as imported and name its country of origin, and it allows fines when imported or mixed seafood is labeled as domestic. Restaurants may not sell imported shrimp or crawfish without saying so on the menu or on a sign, the Illuminator has reported.

The Louisiana Restaurant Association has weighed in on who has to keep the records. The act applies to "retailers" and does not define the word. In a June 30 statement, the association said its review of state law concluded that restaurants are not covered. It noted that the bill's one-line summary originally said restaurants. Legislative records show it said "retailers" by the time the House Agriculture Committee reported the bill March 26. That is the association's reading of the law. The Illuminator described the covered businesses as food retailers, such as seafood markets.

Domangue comes from a long line of shrimpers, including her father, grandfather and great-grandfather, the Illuminator reported. "I was actually 6 weeks old the first time I got on a shrimp boat when I went on a trip with my parents," she told the House committee. "So this is a way of life in Terrebonne Parish … and we're just working and fighting together to save this industry." She was elected in 2023 to represent Terrebonne Parish in House District 53, according to her official House page. She told a Senate committee she does not mind being called "the shrimp girl," a nickname given to her by a colleague, the Illuminator reported.

House Bill 725 moved without opposition. The House Agriculture Committee reported it 10-0 on March 26. The full House passed it 93-0 on April 1, and the Senate followed 32-0 on May 12. Gov. Jeff Landry signed it May 15, and it took effect Aug. 1, according to the bill history.

Two companion Domangue bills were signed the same day. Act 122 lets the commissioner seize, hold or destroy any seafood product in violation of the imported seafood law. The Illuminator reported that, before the change, the commissioner could stop a vendor from selling a product but had to ask the Health Department to seize it. Strain said the aim is to keep illegal product from being moved or sent out of state. Act 153, from House Bill 349, says money in the Imported Seafood Safety Fund can go to enforcing the imported seafood law and to a program to market and promote Louisiana seafood. The Illuminator reported that the fund, paid for by fees on seafood imports, had been limited to testing and enforcement. Both acts took effect May 15.

Act 172 fits on a single page, and the enrolled text is on the Legislature's website.

Photo: Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.