Chinese crawfish sold at Louisiana Crawfish Festival without required signage

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NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) - The Louisiana Crawfish Festival is tightening enforcement of state seafood labeling laws after one vendor was caught selling imported Chinese crawfish Friday evening without displaying the required signage.

Festival Secretary Cisco Gonzales Jr. told FOX 8 the issue was brought to their attention by a festivalgoer who noticed the vendor’s crawfish appeared to be from China — and that there was no sign identifying its origin.

Louisiana law requires vendors to post signs indicating whether their shrimp or crawfish is imported or domestic. Gonzales confirmed the vendor did not have a sign and violated that rule.

“We know how important supporting local seafood is in St. Bernard Parish,” Gonzales said. “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.”

Gonzales said festival organizers are now personally inspecting each seafood vendor to ensure compliance. They’ve instructed all vendors to display origin signage and will provide signage themselves if vendors fail to do so.

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