BATON ROUGE, LA (WAFB) - Gov. Bobby Jindal announced Wednesday that Outback Steakhouse will offer Louisiana shrimp at its 14 restaurants across the state and he's looking into violations by foreign countries affecting Louisiana's shrimping industry.
"We want to encourage all other national chains, especially those with a Louisiana presence, to buy Louisiana shrimp," Jindal said.
Restaurateur Rober Alamirie is fighting to preserve Bayou culture. He said the original plan for Outback was to switch over to imported shrimp once the current inventory ran out, but he and many others had another plan.
"We will not be switching over to imported shrimp or shrimp from anywhere else but Louisiana," Alamirie said. "If we keep importing shrimp, we're going to put these guys out of business," Jim Kelly, an Outback patron, said. "That's terrible not only for shrimpers themselves but the culture."
Jindal said the next step is to talk with other restaurants in the state about strictly buying shrimp from Louisiana. Another idea in the works to help the struggling industry is to brand Louisiana shrimp similar to the way Florida is known for oranges and Wisconsin for cheese.
Some say Louisiana shrimp is the best in the world, but Louisiana shrimpers argue they're not being well compensated for their catches of the day. Because of cheap foreign imports, some Louisiana shrimpers say they're struggling to even feed their families. Back in August, shrimpers from across the state flooded the steps of the Louisiana Capitol to protest the imports.
Some claim products from outside the state are put in boxes that might lead consumers to believe they're from Louisiana.
10-08-2009, 08:53 AM
Outback Steakhouse to use only La. Shrimp
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