A second round of genetic testing of shrimp served at more than 20 Charleston restaurants has revealed that most continue to sell farm-raised imports, with some passing off the food as wild and locally caught.

The Charleston findings are part of a broader multi-state investigation into shrimp mislabeling and substitution fraud by SeaD Consulting at the behest of the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), a not-for-profit coalition of shrimping businesses in eight southern coastal states, including South Carolina.

The latest testing showed just a slight improvement from an initial round a year ago, at the same Charleston restaurants, that found widespread sales of foreign shrimp and instances of false advertising, according to SeaD Consulting.

The struggling shrimping industry has long complained that many restaurants aren’t serving local shrimp in South Carolina, even though the Palmetto State boasts shrimp as its No. 1 seafood. The alleged shrimp fraud, the industry says, is occurring at a time when domestic markets are being overrun by foreign imports of farm-raised shrimp.

Dave Williams, the founder of SeaD and a commercial fishery scientist, said in a news release that the economic stakes of the labeling issue are high because of the importance of local fisheries to coastal communities.

“Seventy percent of seafood expenditures in the United States are in restaurants, so having restaurants tell the truth about what they are serving is paramount,” Williams said. “Consumers should be empowered to decide whether they want to eat and support the highly regulated and inspected American wild-caught fisheries versus very low-inspection-rate imported shrimp that are likely from ponds in Indonesia, Vietnam, or India.”

That’s why the U.S. shrimping industry is backing undercover investigations of the origin of seafood being sold across the eight states. Threatened tariffs by the Trump administration have recently cast a spotlight on the unfair trade practices shrimpers say they are facing.

Last year, shrimp served in 44 restaurants were randomly selected in the Charleston area for testing. The results showed 4 of the 44, or 9%, were serving wild shrimp caught in American waters with the rest serving farm-raised imports. Of the 40 restaurants serving imports, only 15 verbally acknowledged using imported shrimp, the SeaD consulting said.

This year, on Feb. 10-11, 22 of the original 44 restaurants were tested again with the results showing 5 of the 22 restaurants, or 23%, were serving wild-caught shrimp. The 17 restaurants serving farm-raised imported shrimp implied it was U.S. wild caught, the group said.

Three restaurants found to be serving American shrimp also were serving local fare in the first round of testing: Acme Lowcountry Kitchen, Isle of Palms; Grace & Grit, Mt Pleasant, and Rappahannock Oyster Bar, Charleston.

Two restaurants, Amen Street Fish & Raw Bar in Charleston and Mt. Pleasant Seafood, were serving American shrimp after selling imports at the time of the original tests.

Results from Myrtle Beach tests will be announced next week, SeaD Consulting said.

Whether tests are planned in Beaufort County isn’t known. To ensure scientific validity, SeaD Consulting and SSA never announces the markets that will be tested in advance, said Deborah Long, an SSA spokesperson.

Officials with the alliance and the South Carolina Shrimpers Association said the testing demonstrates a need for better labeling laws.

Five of the eight shrimping states have passed labeling or disclosure laws, said Blake Price, director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance.

“In light of widespread false advertising of shrimp, we hope the Carolinas and Florida will follow suit,” Price said.

Bryan Jones, vice president of the South Carolina Shrimpers Association, said the group is working on labeling legislation in South Carolina. “People deserve to know what is in their shrimp and grits,” he said.

Last year, Jones’ organization sued 40 Charleston-area restaurants in federal court in Charleston for shrimp fraud. The lawsuit accused the restaurants of breaking state and federal laws for advertising South Carolina seafood but serving foreign shrimp.

Craig Reaves, who owns Sea Eagle Market in Beaufort, a retail seafood business with shrimp boats based at Village Creek on St. Helena Island, has previously described imports as “farm-raised crap.”

“It’s unbelievable people would come from all over the country expecting to get local seafood and it be represented as such and then be served pond-raised garbage from India,” Reaves says.