Not long after oil started spewing into the Gulf of Mexico, a Twin Cities co-op stopped buying Texas brown shrimp from Coastal Seafoods. "Their customers assumed it was full of oil," said Tim Lauer, Coastal's general manager.
In short order, the local prices of shrimp and oysters, another product closely associated with the Gulf, started inching up, to no surprise of consumers. "Customers seemed to expect that because of the spill," Lauer said.
Turns out the customer is not always right. Myths and misconceptions have abounded since the oil spill, but this much has become clear:
Not much of our seafood comes from the Gulf. And the price spikes have little to do with the spill.
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Photo by David Denney, Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
