Seafood restaurants and markets in Slidell, La., serve locally sourced shrimp almost exclusively, according to a report by the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force and seafood analytics firm SeaD Consulting.
A study of the city’s food purveyors tested samples of 24 shrimp dishes at Slidell area restaurants and found 21 were made with “locally sourced, wild-caught American shrimp,” according to the task force, an advisory group to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
“That means Slidell has an 87 percent authenticity rate and a 13 percent inauthenticity rate, mirroring the findings from New Orleans testing conducted in January 2025,” the group said Aug. 28. “Together, Slidell and New Orleans boast the lowest inauthenticity rates discovered so far in the Louisiana study funded by the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force.”
Louisiana state law requires that shrimp sold in the state be clearly designated as domestic or imported, a result of years of advocacy by Louisiana fishermen and industry advocates.
That’s helped the industry and southern Louisiana’s food and tourism industry to avoid the embarrassment of critics exposing the use of cheaper, imported product. Genetic testing from SeaD Consulting, using its patented RIGHTTest technology (Rapid ID Genetic High-Accuracy Test), can determine the origin of shrimp in dishes sampled by investigators.
During an eight-state investigation of seafood fraud, SeaD and the Southern Shrimp Alliance in June reported that a staggering 90 percent of Charleston, S.C. restaurants tested were found to be serving imported shrimp, often under the pretense that it was local and wild-caught.
SeaD Consulting, under tested shrimp dishes from 44 Charleston restaurants, and found “only four out of 44 restaurants were found to be serving genuine domestic wild-caught shrimp,” according to its June press release. The remaining 40 were misrepresenting imported products through menu descriptions, branding, or proximity to local docks. “25 were found to be outright fraudulent.”
The findings rocked the Charleston food scene, where the supposed authenticity of Lowcountry cuisine is a pillar of regional culture. South Carolina and national news reports of the scandal sent restaurant operators scrambling to control public relations fallout, with operators pledging to work with the South Carolina Shrimpers Association to source local shrimp.
In comparison, Slidell, a city on the northeast shore of Lake Pontchartrain, and New Orleans are passing muster with the shrimp posse. The latest findings are “equivalent to New Orleans’ January 2025 findings (lowest fraud rate in study),” according to the investigators
“Slidell has always been a place where shrimping is more than business — it’s a way of life,” said Rodney Olander from the Louisiana Shrimp Task Force. “Family-owned boats and restaurants traditionally work hand in hand to bring wonderful Gulf shrimp to eager diners.”
In all 21 restaurants in Slidell and Mandeville on Pontchartrain’s north shore won thumbs-up from the SeaD testers.
