How to make ceviche with shrimp
This shrimp ceviche recipe requires zero stove time.
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A nonprofit organization in South Carolina is suing over two dozen local restaurants over “false and misleading representations” regarding the origins of the shrimp they serve.
The South Carolina Shrimpers Association filed a federal lawsuit in the District of South Carolina on June 13 against 25 businesses that claim they sell “local” shrimp, according to the complaint obtained by USA TODAY. The nonprofit alleges these businesses are lying and that their shrimp is “harvested or farmed far from South Carolina’s shores, often frozen and imported from other countries,” the court document continues.
The 25 restaurants accused of lying about their shrimps’ origins have damaged the Shrimpers Association’s “goodwill and reputation for high-quality, local product,” the complaint says.
The lawsuit describes the local shrimping industry as “central to the low country’s culture” and an instrumental part of the heart of South Carolina’s tourism industry, which generates billions of dollars in economic activity for the state.
‘Consumers deserve honesty in advertising’
The Shrimpers Association leaders announced the lawsuit at the Pineapple Fountain in downtown Charleston on Wednesday, July 2.
“This fountain, with its graceful waters, represents the very essence of what we, as South Carolina shrimpers, strive to embody: a genuine, honest welcome,” South Carolina Shrimpers Association Vice President Bryan Jones said, per WCSC and ABC 4 News. “We believe that when we invite our family, our friends, and our cherished guests to our beautiful Lowcountry, they deserve nothing less than the real, authentic thing — and in this case, that means our delectable and incomparable, wild-caught South Carolina shrimp.”
Attorney Gedney Howe IV, who represents the nonprofit, said during the news conference that the lawsuit’s goal “has always been to protect South Carolina’s shrimping industry and to uphold the principle that consumers deserve honesty in advertising,” according to WCSC.
“We hope to hear from any defendant who is prepared to work with us to ensure transparency and fairness moving forward,” Howe added.
SeaD Consulting, a food safety technology company, found earlier this year that a significant number of randomly chosen restaurants in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Biloxi, Mississippi; Galveston, Texas; and Tampa Bay, Florida were passing off their shrimp as locally sourced, even though they were grown on foreign farms and imported to the United States.
Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg, Florida were among the cities with the highest “shrimp fraud rate” at 96%, according to SeaD Consulting. Only two of the 44 restaurants sampled were serving authentic shrimp from the Gulf of America, formerly the Gulf of Mexico, the study found.
What are the 25 businesses named in the shrimp fraud lawsuit?
According to an amended complaint reviewed by USA TODAY, the 25 businesses named in the Shrimpers Association’s lawsuit include:
- Hushpuppies Seafood Company, LLC
- Homegrown Hospitality, LLC d/b/a Pearlz Oyster Bar
- Page’s Incredible Kitchen, LLC d/b/a Page’s Okra Grill
- Southern Roots BBQ, LLC
- Crab du Jour of Charleston LLC
- O’Charley’s LLC d/b/a Dockside Charlie’s
- Hymans Seafood Company, Inc.
- CCH- Market, LLC d/b/a Charleston Crab House
- CCH-MARKET, LLC d/b/a Oyster House and O-Bar
- Saltwater Cowboys LLC
- Bottle Cap Management Group, LLC d/b/a Sunset Waterfront Dining
- Redwing, LLC D/B/A Red’s Icehouse
- Tavern & Table LLC
- Water’s Edge LLC
- Crave Hospitality Group LLC d/b/a The Mill Street Tavern
- Retail Mount Pleasant Seafood Co. Inc. d/b/a Mount Pleasant Seafood
- Ghost Kitchen, LLC d/b/a Taters Seas & Soul
- Rivers1018 LLC D/B/A Family Seafood Market
- Carrigs Seafood Inc.
- Poseidon’s Playground LLC
- Cod Tail of Charleston LLC d/b/a Cod Tail Seafood & Chicken
- Charleston Hospitality, LLC d/b/a Wreckfish Bar & Grill
- Happy Crab Cajun Seafood LLC
- Restaurante La Costa LLC
- Avocet Hospitality Group Inc. D/B/A Pier 101
What have the accused restaurants said about the lawsuit?
A couple of the restaurants have commented on the lawsuit so far, including Mount Peasant Seafood, which told WCSC: “We have not misrepresented about selling local shrimp. When we say SC shrimp, we know it’s from SC because they are coming directly from our known vendors and we have the receipts to back up those purchases.”
“When fresh local shrimp are not available, we do have frozen local shrimp that we will sell until fresh become available,” the restaurant’s statement continued. “We are direct with our customers because we know the importance of fresh local seafood for its taste of support of the local economy.”
Crave Hospitality Group also commented on the lawsuit, telling WCSC, “We take sourcing and transparency seriously at Mill Street Tavern. We were exceptionally surprised to learn we’ve been named in a lawsuit and are actively reviewing it with counsel.”
Page’s Okra Grill told the TV station that it is “floored” to be named in the lawsuit.
“We will spend hundreds of thousands of dollars this year on East Coast Wild Caught Shrimp. I am sure there may be someone doing more than that in Charleston but it’s not many,” according to the restaurant. “We agree that restaurants should not advertise using all local shrimp on their menus which is why we don’t do that and so we are angry to be lumped in that category. We do not claim on any of our menus that our shrimp is all local or East Coast.”
Poseidon’s Playground told WCSC that it does “not advertise local shrimp,” while Tavern & Table said it is “unaware” of being named in the lawsuit or falsely advertising its shrimp.
USA TODAY reached out to several restaurants named in the lawsuit on July 3, but has not received immediate responses.
Contributing: Christopher Cann/ USA TODAY
Jonathan Limehouse covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at JLimehouse@gannett.com.
