HLS 22RS-1665 ENGROSSED
2022 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 78
BY REPRESENTATIVE KERNER
SEAFOOD: Memorializes Congress to support the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor
Prevention Act and to compel the United States Food and Drug Administration to
fulfill its duties regarding inspection and testing of imported seafood
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2To memorialize the United States Congress to support the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor
3 Prevention Act and to take such actions as are necessary to compel the United States
4 Food and Drug Administration to fulfill its duties regarding inspection and testing
5 of imported seafood.
6 WHEREAS, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, in
72019 the United States imported six billion pounds of edible seafood products, including one
8and one half billion pounds of shrimp, an increase of nearly six and one half million pounds
9more than the shrimp imported in 2018; and
10 WHEREAS, the 2019 shrimp imports alone, valued at six billion dollars, accounted
11for twenty-seven percent of the total value of imported seafood that year, which reached
12twenty-two billion dollars; and
13 WHEREAS, it is estimated that over half of the imported seafood consumed in the
14United States is from aquaculture, or seafood farming, rather than wild-caught; and
15 WHEREAS, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible
16for the safety of all fish and fishery products entering the United States and sold in
17Louisiana; and
18 WHEREAS, the FDA's seafood safety program is governed by its Hazard Analysis
19Critical Control Point regulations, which address food safety management through the
20analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material
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HCR NO. 78
1production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution, and consumption of
2the finished product; and
3 WHEREAS, FDA regulations are supposed to measure compliance for imported
4seafood with inspections of foreign processing facilities, sampling of seafood offered for
5import into the United States, domestic surveillance sampling of imported products,
6inspections of seafood importers, foreign country program assessments, and the use of
7information from foreign partners and FDA overseas offices; and
8 WHEREAS, in 2011 the FDA was only inspecting two percent of the seafood
9imported into the United States; and
10 WHEREAS, unfortunately 2011 is the last year for which data regarding the
11percentage of imports inspected is available due to a lack of transparency and inadequate
12assessment measures; and
13 WHEREAS, in 2011 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) noted that the
14FDA's assessments of foreign aquaculture operations was limited by the FDA's lack of
15procedures, criteria, and standards; and ten years later, a 2021 GAO report found that the
16agency was failing to monitor the effectiveness of its own enforcement policies and
17procedures; and
18 WHEREAS, in contrast, the European Union regularly conducts physical checks of
19approximately twenty percent of all imported fish products that are fresh, frozen, dry, salted,
20or hermetically sealed, and for certain fishery products, physical checks are conducted on
21approximately fifty percent of imports; and
22 WHEREAS, the Louisiana State University School of Renewable Natural Resources
23published a 2020 paper titled "Determination of Sulfite and Antimicrobial Residue in
24Imported Shrimp to the USA", which presented findings from a study of shrimp imported
25from India, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Bangladesh, and Ecuador and purchased
26from retail stores in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and
27 WHEREAS, a screening of these shrimp for sulfites and residues from antimicrobial
28drugs found the following: (1) five percent of the shrimp contained malachite green, (2)
29seven percent contained oxytetracycline, (3) seventeen percent contained fluoroquinolone,
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1and (4) seventy percent contained nitrofurantoin, all of which have been banned by the FDA
2in domestic aquaculture operations; and
3 WHEREAS, although the FDA requires that food products exposed to sulfites must
4include a label with a statement about the presence of sulfites, of the forty-three percent of
5these locally purchased shrimp found to contain sulfites, not one package complied with this
6labeling requirement; and
7 WHEREAS, the drug and sulfite residues included in this screening can be harmful
8to human health during both handling and consumption and have been known to cause all
9of the following: liver damage and tumors, reproductive abnormalities, cardiac arrhythmia,
10renal failure, hemolysis, asthma attacks, and allergic reactions; and
11 WHEREAS, the results of this study confirm that existing screening and enforcement
12measures for imported seafood are insufficient; whatever the percentage of imports inspected
13may be, seafood is currently being imported that contains unsafe substances that put
14American consumers at risk; and
15 WHEREAS, because imported seafood is not held to the same standards as domestic
16seafood, domestic fishing industries are put at a distinct and significant disadvantage
17commercially; and
18 WHEREAS, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, the
19average value of Louisiana shrimp fell from three dollars and eighty cents per pound in 1980
20to one dollar fifty cents per pound in 2017; and
21 WHEREAS, this unfair competition allows foreign competitors to flood the United
22States market with seafood harvested under intensive farming practices using antimicrobial
23drugs, while devastating local industries and the coastal communities built around them; and
24 WHEREAS, proposed federal legislation cosponsored by Representative Garret
25Graves of Louisiana titled the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act, originally
26filed as H.R. 3075 and as incorporated into H.R. 4521 of the 117
th
Congress, seeks to combat
27illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing practices in the international seafood supply
28chain which contribute to the foregoing inadequacies; and
29 WHEREAS, the proposed legislation seeks to enhance monitoring, inspection, data
30collection, labeling, and transparency related to imported seafood; to improve the ability of
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1United States regulators to enforce these measures; to increase outreach regarding seafood
2safety and fraud; and to appropriate additional money for improved traceability; and
3 WHEREAS, if enacted, the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act could
4be an essential step towards improving the safety of consumers and the market for domestic
5fishing industries.
6 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
7memorialize the United States Congress to support the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor
8Prevention Act and to take such actions as are necessary to compel the United States Food
9and Drug Administration to fulfill its duties regarding inspection and testing of imported
10seafood.
11 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
12presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Congress of the
13United States of America and to each member of the Louisiana congressional delegation.
DIGEST
The digest printed below was prepared by House Legislative Services. It constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument. The keyword, one-liner, abstract, and digest do not constitute
part of the law or proof or indicia of legislative intent. [R.S. 1:13(B) and 24:177(E)]
HCR 78 Engrossed 2022 Regular Session Kerner
Memorializes Congress to support the Illegal Fishing and Forced Labor Prevention Act and
to compel the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to fulfill its duties regarding inspection
and testing of imported seafood.
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