In just the last five years, North Carolina has gone from 43 crab processing plants down to just 20. And that trend is continuing. The reason for this rapid shut down is directly attributable to the influx of a cheaper, foreign crab meat. 

Five years ago the ratio in the United States was 70% domestic to 30% import. Now those numbers have inverted. 70% of the crabmeat in the United States is imported. 

The foreign import, which is coming from places like Thailand, Malaysia, China and Mexico is not the same crab meat as the North Carolina blue crab. It is cheaper and is processed with questionable sanitation standards. The foreign import also has chemicals added to make it more eye appealing and to extend its shelf life. 

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