To seafood consumers: our products are safe to eat!
Seafood has been the foundation of Bayou La Batre’s commerce for generations, and our city is a primary source for wild Gulf shrimp, shucked oysters, crabmeat, and finfish such as fresh mullet, flounders, red snapper and other popular species on the U.S. market.
Bayou La Batre is ranked by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Marine Fishery Service, NOAA, as being in the top 20 of major U.S. fishing ports by value of seafood landings. There are more than 30 small (mom and pop), medium and large seafood processing facilities in the City and surrounding south Mobile County area.
Our products are shipped to seafood markets throughout the U.S. as fresh or “fresh-frozen,” and seafood landings, in particular shrimp and oysters, are shipped from other Gulf states to supplement Alabama landings to meet the Bayou area processors raw product needs.
All products produced are safe to eat.
Seafood health protection begins with testing of the waters by the Alabama Board of Health. If there is any chance something in the waters may affect safety of the seafood, waters are closed to fishing.
The next step in food safety is at the seafood processing facility. All facilities are required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to operate under a Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point plan (HACCP), which consist of control points for insuring food safety as it is processed. The first step in a plan is ensuring seafood entering the plant will be safe to eat after processing and storing.
“Bayou” seafood has undergone many changes over the centuries of its existence. Products were preserved by salting and drying, then canning. The first ice available in the 1880s came from as far away as Maine where ice was cut from ponds, shipped by schooners to Mobile, and shipped to the Bayou by train. In the last 50 years, seafood processing in the Bayou has evolved from canning to freezing on board the vessels at sea to maintain freshness. When the product is landed, it is immediately processed in plants using the latest technology to ensure quality and safety and can be packaged according to the buyers’ requirements.
Thank you for continuing to eat Alabama seafood
