BATON ROUGE - In Louisiana, seafood is a cultural thing, whether by how it's cooked or where it comes from, and starting Jan. 1, a new law requires sellers to inform consumers where the food on their plate comes from.

Restaurants and businesses must disclose if the seafood product they’re selling is imported and from which country.

"I prefer local because to me it's a different taste and texture,” One woman said. “Usually the foreign seafood is tough, but Louisiana is tender."

The law might seem like deja vu after a similar measure went in place in 2019 which mandated businesses advertise whether their product was not from Louisiana, but some businesses weren’t entirely honest.

Jason Wyble works at Tony’s Seafood in Baton Rouge, and he says for many customers, local is a requirement when shopping for seafood.

"Everything's labeled,” Wyble said. “Every now and then, we'll get something from somewhere else, but everything is labeled for country of origin."

A study released by SeaD Consulting investigated where seafood comes from in Baton Rouge. The company sampled 24 restaurants in the city at random, and according to the study, seven falsely advertised their shrimp as locally sourced when it wasn’t.

While the consumers WBRZ spoke to generally preferred local catches, one business owner said the change could cost them. They said it's expensive to change their menus, and purchasing only Louisiana seafood can be costly on the business end, so they occasionally opt for imported options.