"Some items served at this establishment may contain foreign imported shrimp. Ask for more information."
Starting Wednesday, Oct. 28, that exact sentence, or its required twin without the word "may," will show up at front doors across Beaufort and on menus wherever a menu exists. It comes from H.4248, which became Act 254 when the governor signed it on June 30, 2026. The sign will tell you whether a kitchen buys shrimp from overseas. It won't tell you whether the shrimp came from Beaufort waters. That second question still gets answered the way it always has here, at the dock and through a small decal that northern Beaufort County's restaurant community launched on St. Helena Island last month.
Two sentences, one word apart
The law gives restaurants exactly three positions, and the wording of the required notice shows which one a kitchen is in. It covers anywhere that sells ready-to-eat food to the public, including restaurants, cafeterias, food stands and food trucks. According to the South Carolina Department of Agriculture, it also covers seafood retailers that steam or cook shrimp.
| What the kitchen serves | What must appear at the main entrance and on any menu |
|---|---|
| Both domestic and foreign imported shrimp | "Some items served at this establishment may contain foreign imported shrimp. Ask for more information." |
| Imported shrimp and no domestic shrimp | "Some items served at this establishment contain foreign imported shrimp. Ask for more information." |
| Domestic shrimp only | No notice required |
The only difference between the first two rows is the word "may." A "may contain" sign means the kitchen buys from both supply chains, and the closing line, "Ask for more information," is your opening to ask which dish uses which.
The Department of Agriculture's guidance for food establishments sets out how the notice should look. The menu disclaimer should be legible and close in font size to other disclaimers on the menu, and stickers or inserts are acceptable. On food trucks, the sign should be visible from the serving window. Inspectors will check compliance during unannounced routine inspections and complaint investigations, and they can ask for supplier invoices, bills of lading or packaging to confirm where the shrimp came from. A first violation brings a warning and three days to fix it. Under the statute, second and later violations carry civil fines of $100 to $5,000 for each day the violation continues.
The law's dividing line is the U.S. border, not the Beaufort River
The third row of that table is where a Beaufort diner can get tripped up. The statute defines "domestic shrimp" as shrimp caught and landed in a state's waters or in U.S. waters. A restaurant serving shrimp trawled in the Gulf of Mexico or off another state's coast has nothing to post. So a door with no sign tells you the shrimp is American. It says nothing about whether the shrimp came from Port Royal Sound.
The required notice also never names a country. It only separates foreign from domestic.
The law also leaves the seafood counter out. The Department of Agriculture's guidance excludes retailers that sell only raw shrimp. When you buy a pound of heads-on shrimp to boil at home, no sign is involved. You learn where it came from by asking, or by buying where the boats unload.
State Rep. Shannon Erickson of Beaufort, one of the bill's sponsors, described the problem the law was written to fix. She told The Post and Courier that "local shrimp" and "local seafood" had started to lose their meaning on area menus:
"You walk in (to a restaurant) and if the board reads local shrimp and you order fried shrimp and it's not local, what does it mean?"
The new law tackles the most clear-cut version of that problem, which is imported shrimp. Telling local shrimp apart from other American shrimp is a job Beaufort took on itself.
Beaufort's own test goes further than the sign
On Sept. 23, the Beaufort Area Hospitality Association unveiled "Only From Our Waters" on the banks of Ward Creek, next to Gay Fish Company on St. Helena Island. The Post and Courier reported that about 250 people attended. A Frogmore stew was served with shrimp from Gay Fish Company and Sea Eagle Market.
The program has a higher bar than the statute. According to the association's program page, it's open to restaurants in Beaufort, Port Royal and the Sea Islands that commit to serving local and/or American wild-caught shrimp and to describing it honestly. Participants get a decal and marketing exposure, and the shrimp is checked through science-based verification with USC Beaufort's Department of Natural Sciences. BAHA president and CEO Ashlee Houck told The Post and Courier that USCB researchers would genetically test shrimp from participating businesses. Joining is free, and about 25 businesses had signed up at launch. The Island Packet also put the count at 25. The program hasn't published a list of participants, so the decal in the window is the thing to look for.
The program grew out of what The Post and Courier calls "Shrimpgate." A Texas research firm, SeaD Consulting, used genetic testing and found that Charleston-area restaurants were overwhelmingly serving imported shrimp, including several that advertised local shrimp. Houck said BAHA members had discussed a local program for a long time and began building it in earnest about two years ago. In 2025, WSAV reported that Nick Borreggine, owner of Scratch Italian and Shellring Ale Works, helped create it with Sea Eagle Market owner Craig Reaves and Houck.
Reaves, a Beaufort shrimper and a founding member of BAHA, told The Post and Courier the program isn't meant to single anyone out:
"I'm not anti-global seafood in a global market. I'm anti-fraud. I'm anti people claiming to be using local and they're not."
That makes the two tools a good pair: a state sign that flags imported shrimp, and a decal showing that a kitchen has agreed to have its shrimp tested.
Where the shrimp comes off the boat
The raw counters are outside the new law, and they're also where Beaufort's local shrimp is easiest to trace. Explore Beaufort's seafood market guide lists these spots:
- Sea Eagle Market, 2149 Boundary St., Beaufort
- Sea Eagle Market at Village Creek, 34 Hallmark Road, St. Helena Island, described as a working waterfront where seafood is landed, processed and sold
- Gay Fish Company, 1938 Sea Island Parkway
- Bradley Seafood Market, 1452 Sea Island Parkway
- Dubs Seafood, 1421 Ribaut Road, Port Royal, described as offering fresh local shrimp "right off the boat"
- Highway 21 Seafood, 3438 Trask Parkway
The Island Packet describes local shrimp arriving at Gay Fish Company's Ward Creek dock, behind its St. Helena retail store, and names the company's shrimp boat, the Tracey Ann.
The timing helps right now. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources says commercial fall white shrimp landings usually begin in August and peak in September and October, and the season usually runs through December, sometimes into January. So the signs go up in the last days of that peak, with weeks of the local harvest still to come.
This post is general information about a new state rule, not legal advice. Restaurant owners with questions about their own compliance should go to the statute and the Department of Agriculture's guidance, or ask a qualified professional.
At J.P. Signature Group, we cover what's changing in Beaufort, down to the sign on a restaurant door. If you have questions about life here or what's new in town, reach out and we'll help you find answers.
