The fast food chain recently began marketing tacos and burritos featuring "Pacific shrimp," and it's not sitting well with the good doctor. Beating press release-happy freshman Congressman Jeff Landry to the punch, U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany, R-Lafayette, came up with a novel way of demonstrating his commitment to his beleaguered Gulf Coast constituency: He reached out to Taco Bell in a bid to restore the compromised reputation of seafood harvested in the Gulf of Mexico. The fast food chain recently began marketing tacos and burritos featuring "Pacific shrimp," and it's not sitting well with the good doctor.
In a letter to Greg Creed, Taco Bell's president and chief concept officer, Boustany urges the gas magnate to show its commitment to Gulf Coast restoration by filling its fare with Gulf shrimp instead. "I want to alert you that Gulf shrimp has a rich tradition as being of the highest quality in the world, with Louisiana's coast alone producing nearly one-third of the domestic seafood consumed in the lower forty-eight states," Boustany writes in the letter that coincides with the start of the high seafood-consuming Lenten season.
In a press release touting the letter touting Gulf Seafood, Harlon Pearce of the Louisiana Seafood Promotion and Marketing Board gives Boustany's bid a ringing endorsement: "In blind taste tests, consumers chose Gulf shrimp 85 percent of the time over other products sold in the United States. Gulf Seafood is plentiful and sustainable, and its producers work hard to provide a nourishing, fresh product while protecting species for future generations. It makes sense that Taco Bell should not only consider but specify Gulf shrimp in all its recipes. It would show the country that Taco Bell is here to help the Gulf fisherman continue his efforts in this time of need."
There is no indication that Taco Bell has responded to Rep. Boustany.