[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 126 (Thursday, July 28, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3780-S3781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-173. A resolution adopted by the House of 
     Representatives of the State of Louisiana urging the United 
     States Congress to enact federal legislation requiring food 
     service establishments to notify patrons if they are serving 
     imported shrimp; to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, 
     and Forestry.

                        House Resolution No. 253

       Whereas, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
     Administration, in 2019 the United States imported six 
     billion pounds of edible seafood products, including one and 
     one half billion pounds of shrimp, an increase of nearly six 
     and one half million pounds more than the shrimp imported in 
     2018; and

[[Page S3781]]

       Whereas, the 2019 shrimp imports alone, valued at six 
     billion dollars, accounted for twenty-seven percent of the 
     total value of imported seafood that year, which reached 
     twenty-two billion dollars; and
       Whereas, it is estimated that over half of the imported 
     seafood consumed in the United States is from aquaculture, or 
     seafood farming, rather than wild-caught; and
       Whereas, the United States Food and Drug Administration 
     (FDA) is responsible for the safety of all fish and fishery 
     products entering the United States and sold in Louisiana; 
     and
       Whereas, the FDA's seafood safety program is governed by 
     its Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point regulations, which 
     address food safety management through the analysis and 
     control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from 
     raw material production, procurement and handling, to 
     manufacturing, distribution, and consumption of the finished 
     product; and
       Whereas, FDA regulations are supposed to measure compliance 
     for imported seafood with inspections of foreign processing 
     facilities, sampling of seafood offered for import into the 
     United States, domestic surveillance sampling of imported 
     products, inspections of seafood importers, foreign country 
     program assessments, and the use of information from foreign 
     partners and FDA overseas offices; and
       Whereas, in 2011 the FDA was only inspecting two percent of 
     the seafood imported into the United States; and
       Whereas, unfortunately 2011 is the last year for which data 
     regarding the percentage of imports inspected is available 
     due to a lack of transparency and inadequate assessment 
     measures; and
       Whereas, in 2011 the Government Accountability Office (GAO) 
     noted that the FDA's assessments of foreign aquaculture 
     operations was limited by the FDA's lack of procedures, 
     criteria, and standards; and ten years later, a 2021 GAO 
     report found that the agency was failing to monitor the 
     effectiveness of its own enforcement policies and procedures; 
     and
       Whereas, in contrast, the European Union regularly conducts 
     physical checks of approximately twenty percent of all 
     imported fish products that are fresh, frozen, dry, salted, 
     or hermetically sealed, and for certain fishery products, 
     physical checks are conducted on approximately fifty percent 
     of imports; and
       Whereas, the Louisiana State University School of Renewable 
     Natural Resources published a 2020 paper titled 
     ``Determination of Sulfite and Antimicrobial Residue in 
     Imported Shrimp to the USA'', which presented findings from a 
     study of shrimp imported from India, Thailand, Indonesia, 
     Vietnam, China, Bangladesh, and Ecuador and purchased from 
     retail stores in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and
       Whereas, a screening of these shrimp for sulfites and 
     residues from antimicrobial drugs found the following: (1) 
     five percent of the shrimp contained malachite green, (2) 
     seven percent contained oxytetracycline, (3) seventeen 
     percent contained fluoroquinolone, and (4) seventy percent 
     contained nitrofurantoin, all of which have been banned by 
     the FDA in domestic aquaculture operations; and
       Whereas, although the FDA requires that food products 
     exposed to sulfites must include a label with a statement 
     about the presence of sulfites, of the forty-three percent of 
     these locally purchased shrimp found to contain sulfites, not 
     one package complied with this labeling requirement; and
       Whereas the drug and sulfite residues included in this 
     screening, can be harmful to human health during both 
     handling and consumption and have been known to cause all of 
     the following: liver damage and tumors, reproductive 
     abnormalities, cardiac arrhythmia, renal failure, hemolysis, 
     asthma attacks, and allergic reactions; and
       Whereas, the results of this study confirm that existing 
     screening and enforcement measures for imported seafood are 
     insufficient; whatever the percentage of imports inspected 
     may be, seafood is currently being imported that contains 
     unsafe substances that put American consumers at risk; and
       Whereas, because imported seafood is not held to the same 
     standards as domestic seafood, domestic fishing industries 
     are put at a distinct and significant disadvantage 
     commercially; and
       Whereas, according to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife 
     and Fisheries, the average value of Louisiana shrimp fell 
     from three dollars eighty cents per pound in 1980 to one 
     dollar fifty cents per pound in 2017; and
       Whereas, this unfair competition allows foreign competitors 
     to flood the United States market with shrimp harvested under 
     intensive farming practices using antimicrobial drugs, while 
     devastating local industries and the coastal communities 
     built around them; and
       Whereas, Louisiana passed a law in 2019 requiring food 
     service establishments to provide notice to patrons that they 
     are serving shrimp imported from, a foreign country; and
       Whereas, Louisiana Revised Statute 40:5.5.4 requires any 
     food service establishment that sells or provides cooked or 
     prepared shrimp originating outside the United States to 
     display the country of origin of such shrimp, or denote that 
     it is imported, on all menus in the same font as the rest of 
     the menu, or if no menu is used, to display such information 
     on a sign at least eighteen inches tall and wide, located in 
     a conspicuous place, with lettering at least one inch in 
     size; and
       Whereas, like Louisiana consumers, consumers across the 
     United States deserve to be protected from harmful chemicals 
     and residues found in imported shrimp; and
       Whereas, consumers across the United States likewise have 
     the right to know whether the shrimp prepared and served to 
     them in food service establishments are imported; therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives of the 
     Legislature of Louisiana does hereby memorialize the United 
     States Congress to enact federal legislation requiring food 
     service establishments to provide notice to patrons if they 
     are serving imported shrimp; and be it further
       Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to 
     the presiding officers of the Senate and the House of 
     Representatives of Congress and to each member of the 
     Louisiana congressional delegation.
                                  ____

       POM-174. A resolution adopted by the House of 
     Representatives of the State of Louisiana urging the United 
     States Congress to support the Water Resources Development 
     Act of 2022, including Congressman Troy Carter's amendment to 
     review recreational hazards along the banks of the 
     Mississippi River, in order to protect lives by alerting the 
     public to dangerous conditions on the river and riverbank; to 
     the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

                        House Resolution No. 210

       Whereas, three children tragically lost their lives in 
     Algiers on April 23, 2022; and
       Whereas, 8-year-old Ally Wilson, 14-year-old Brandy Wilson, 
     and 15-year-old Kevin Poole went missing while playing on the 
     bank of the Mississippi River near the Crescent City 
     Connection and are believed to have been taken by the strong 
     current of the river; and
       Whereas, this devastating tragedy has called attention to 
     the dangers posed by open access to the banks of the 
     Mississippi River and the lack of safety measures and warning 
     signs cautioning the public against hazards along the 
     riverbank and dangerous river conditions; and
       Whereas, the New Orleans City Council unanimously passed a 
     resolution directing several government agencies to take all 
     necessary steps to install warning signs in the area where 
     these children accessed the river; and
       Whereas, Congress is currently considering the Water 
     Resources and Development Act of 2022 (WRDA), a bill passed 
     by every session of Congress that authorizes and funds the 
     activities of the United States Army Corps of Engineers 
     relative to flood control, navigation, and ecosystem 
     restoration; and
       Whereas, the Mississippi River levee system is under the 
     jurisdiction of the United States Army Corps of Engineers and 
     the banks of the Mississippi River can be regulated through 
     legislation under WRDA; and
       Whereas, on May 18, 2022, Congressman Troy Carter of 
     Louisiana was able to add an amendment to the United States 
     House of Representatives version of WRDA, introduced as H.R. 
     7776 of the 117th Congress, which would require the United 
     States Army Corps of Engineers to review potential threats to 
     human life and safety from recreational areas at the banks of 
     the Mississippi River in Louisiana and to install signage and 
     other measures at such recreational areas necessary to alert 
     the public of hazardous water conditions or to otherwise 
     minimize or eliminate any identified threats to human life 
     and safety; and
       Whereas, these efforts by the City of New Orleans and 
     Congressman Troy Carter have the potential to save lives and 
     prevent the type of tragic loss experienced by the Wilson and 
     Poole families, and the Algiers community, this spring: Now, 
     Therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives of the 
     Legislature of Louisiana does hereby memorialize the United 
     States Congress to support the Water Resources Development 
     Act of 2022, including Congressman Troy Carter's amendment to 
     review recreational hazards along the banks of the 
     Mississippi River, in order to protect lives by alerting the 
     public to dangerous conditions on the river and riverbank; 
     and be it further
       Resolved, That a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to 
     the presiding officers of the United States Senate, the House 
     of Representatives, and to each member of the Louisiana 
     congressional delegation.

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