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India, which provides roughly 40% of the shrimp consumed within the U.S., exports vital portions of shrimp bearing the Greatest Aquaculture Practices seal.

A current investigation, nevertheless, uncovered troubling practices at BAP-certified services in India that counsel circumstances are sometimes an identical to uncertified counterparts. These points reportedly embrace pressured labor, restrictive working circumstances, underpayment and extreme environmental hurt, contradicting BAP’s guarantees of excessive moral requirements.

The Company Accountability Lab and the Southern Shrimp Alliance have now co-filed a proper grievance with the Federal Commerce Fee, urging motion towards the BAP certification, a seal utilized by main shrimp manufacturers and retailers to advertise farmed shrimp merchandise as secure, responsibly sourced and ethically produced.

The grievance alleges that BAP, operated by the International Seafood Alliance, misleads customers in regards to the security and moral practices behind BAP-certified shrimp, particularly these imported from India, the place pressured labor, antibiotic contamination and environmental injury are reportedly widespread.

“GSA, BAP, and retailers promote BAP certification as a shopper assurance that the seafood meets strict environmental and labor requirements,” mentioned Charity Ryerson, CAL’s Government Director. “In follow, BAP certification is little greater than a advertising and marketing software. It misleads customers into considering all is properly, whereas employees at BAP-certified services report extreme exploitation and harmful working circumstances, and communities endure from air pollution that has destroyed fisheries and contaminated ingesting water.”

Analysis carried out by the alliance additional complicates the picture of security projected by BAP certification. SSA’s evaluation of FDA information revealed that 87% of shrimp shipments rejected because of antibiotic contamination in 2024 got here from BAP-certified services.

Regardless of the FDA’s restricted inspection scope — testing solely 0.1% of imports — the company refused 71 shrimp shipments over antibiotic considerations, of which 62 have been linked to BAP-certified suppliers.

“BAP’s industry-led certification scheme has clearly failed to repair the various security, moral, and environmental issues plaguing the Indian shrimp sector,” mentioned John Williams, SSA’s govt director.

Certifications branded with environmental, social, and governance claims have been proven to drive gross sales and shopper belief, however the grievance emphasizes the FTC’s stance that certification schemes should meet the identical promoting requirements as entrepreneurs to keep away from deceptive customers.

In keeping with CAL, the certification’s deceptive claims violate the FTC’s requirements for truthful promoting, as customers are drawn to merchandise branded with Environmental, Social, and Governance labels.

NielsenIQ analysis exhibits ESG-branded merchandise outpacing non-ESG merchandise in gross sales progress, whereas a 2024 survey discovered customers keen to pay practically 10% extra for sustainable merchandise.

In keeping with Williams, the BAP label not solely fails to enhance circumstances however “masks exploitative practices, deceptive U.S. customers into believing they’re buying moral and sustainable merchandise.”

The grievance additionally spotlights the environmental injury brought on by shrimp farms and hatcheries, usually constructed alongside India’s coastlines.

The growth has reportedly destroyed mangroves and wetland habitats, ecosystems important for marine biodiversity and coastal resilience. Waste from these services contaminates groundwater and close by fishing waters, impacting conventional fishing communities and threatening public well being.

Residents of villages close to shrimp farms report groundwater contamination and degraded fishing yields, important sources for native sustenance and employment.

The Indian authorities has taken minimal motion to implement labor, security, and environmental legal guidelines inside the shrimp sector, permitting certifiers like BAP and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council to step in.

Nevertheless, these voluntary certifications usually fall brief, serving extra as advertising and marketing instruments than efficient regulatory safeguards. With out governmental oversight, the shrimp sector’s violations of human rights and environmental requirements proceed unabated, leaving native communities, and Louisiana shrimpers to bear the prices.

The grievance to the FTC comes after two main Southern seafood festivals served imported, farm-raised shrimp as a substitute of the Gulf-caught varieties they marketed.

“These outcomes affirm what native shrimpers have suspected — that even festivals devoted to celebrating Gulf seafood usually are not proof against mislabeled imports,” mentioned SEAD Consulting in a press release.

SEAD mentioned they may start testing eating places all through the South quickly.