HB 602 Mississippi House · 2025 Regular Session

Crawfish and seafood; provide country of origin labeling requirements for.

HB 602 requires restaurants, retailers, and seafood suppliers in Mississippi to label all seafood products (including crawfish, saltwater finfish, crustaceans, and mollusks) with their country of origin, using "domestic" for U.S.-harvested/processed seafood and "imported" for foreign-origin products. Businesses must display labels prominently in the same font size as the product name, maintain origin records, and face civil penalties up to $10,000 for violations. The law also establishes a Mississippi Seafood Marketing Task Force to study local seafood production and marketing. It expands Mississippi’s existing crawfish labeling law to cover all seafood and was signed into law by the governor on April 17, 2025.
Bill status signed all 5 stages cleared
Introduction
Feb 2025
Committee Review
Apr 2025
House Passage
Feb 2025
Senate Passage
Mar 2025
Signed into Law
Apr 2025
Introduced Feb 11, 2025 Signed Apr 17, 2025
Maddy AI version diff · 2 comparisons

What changed between versions

As Passed the lower Current version · 7 edits
MODERATE
This bill expands Mississippi's country of origin labeling requirements from crawfish and shrimp to all saltwater seafood, including finfish and shellfish. It also establishes a new Mississippi Seafood Marketing Task Force to study and make recommendations about seafood marketing and production in Mississippi waters.
Scope change
Expanded from crawfish and shrimp only to all saltwater seafood including finfish, crustaceans, molluscan shellfish, and other saltwater aquatic animal life intended for human consumption.
SCOPE

Extended country of origin labeling requirements to include all saltwater seafood, not just crawfish and shrimp.

DEFINITION

Added new definitions for 'Seafood' to explicitly include saltwater finfish, crustaceans, molluscan shellfish, and other saltwater aquatic animal life.

REQUIREMENT

Changed labeling designations from 'Farm-raised domestic' and 'Wild-caught domestic' to simply 'Domestic', and changed 'Foreign' to 'Imported'.

Added requirement that imported seafood or crawfish mixed with domestic product must be classified as imported product.

FISCAL

Established a new Mississippi Seafood Marketing Task Force to study seafood marketing and production, with activities funded through legislative appropriation.

TIMELINE

Task Force must submit report with recommendations to Governor and Legislature on or before January 1, 2027, after which the Task Force dissolves.

ENFORCEMENT

Added Task Force composition including Governor, Department of Marine Resources, Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Gaming Commission, Restaurant Association, Tourism Director, commercial fisherman, and seafood processor representatives.

Floor votes · Senate Mar 6, 2025 · House Feb 10, 2025

How they voted

500
Passed · 1 other
Total votes 51
Mar 6, 2025
D Democratic16
16 Yea
100% Yea
R Republican35
34 Yea 1
97% Yea
Vote distribution
All Yea All Nay Mixed No data
Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions
19
Key actions
8
Committee
6
Amendments
1
Apr 17, 2025
Signed into law
Approved by Governor
executive
Apr 1, 2025
Lower · Passed
Conference Report Adopted
lower
Mar 31, 2025
Lower · Passed
Conference Report Filed
lower
Mar 6, 2025
Upper · Passed
Passed As Amended
upper
Mar 6, 2025
Upper · Passed
Amended
upper
Feb 27, 2025
Upper · Passed
Title Suff Do Pass As Amended
upper
Feb 17, 2025
Committee
Referred To Ports and Marine Resources
upper
Feb 11, 2025
Introduced
Transmitted To Senate
lower
Feb 10, 2025
Lower · Passed
Passed
lower
Jan 29, 2025
Lower · Passed
Title Suff Do Pass
lower
Jan 15, 2025
Committee
Referred To Marine Resources
lower
0 primary · 1 co-sponsor

Sponsors

No sponsor information available.