Committee approves bill requiring restaurants to disclose imported shrimp on menus

The Senate Rules Committee advanced House Bill 117, a bill that would require restaurants to prominently disclose on menus when shrimp being sold are imported from foreign sources.

Representative Petrie, the bill’s sponsor, described the measure as a consumer-transparency effort. "This bill simply requires that menus in restaurants prominently display if they are eating foreign imported shrimp," he told the committee. Petrie and other speakers emphasized that the bill would not ban imported shrimp or stop commercial establishments from purchasing imported products; it would only require disclosure to consumers.

Committee members asked about institutional exemptions and supply sources. Senator Dolezal noted a summary line stating the requirement would not apply to establishments operated by state agencies, and the sponsor confirmed the exemption was retained to avoid applying the rule to state hospitals and other institutional providers. Questions about where most imported shrimp come from prompted the sponsor to say that much of the imported supply originates in countries such as India and Vietnam, but the committee did not introduce additional restrictions or country-specific bans.

The committee voted to advance the substitute; the chair announced the motion carried unanimously.

Ending

The bill now goes to the Senate general calendar. The committee clarified that the measure is intended as a menu-disclosure requirement for consumer information, not a prohibition on the sale of imported shrimp.