On the menu in Mississippi: More disclosure about catfish origins
Published 4:46 pm Thursday, April 10, 2008
A new Mississippi law will require restaurants to disclose whether the catfish they serve is imported or raised in the United States.
Gov. Haley Barbour signed a bill Tuesday, and it becomes law July 1.
If a restaurant sells imported catfish, its menu will have to include that information, and the letters will have to be the same typeface and size as the listing for the catfish dish.
The new regulation is the latest move to protect the catfish industry from Asian imports.
In 2007, basa catfish from Vietnam were banned in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama — three of the top catfish producers in the country — after illegal antibiotics turned up in basa samples.
The bill is House Bill 728.