Harvest time in Ohio—the squash, the corn, the apples, the shrimp.

Yes, shrimp. In fact, it is shrimp harvest time at Calala’s Water Haven in New London, Ohio and because of that students at Case Western Reserve University dining halls will dine on locally-raised shrimp tonight.

“It’s a unique item,” explains Dan Farrell, resident district manager of Bon Appetit (Case’s food service provider) who drove with his staff to pick up the 650 lbs of shrimp this past weekend. “They taste fantastic. They are fed a vegetarian diet. They look great, so we will end up displaying them in the cases and in the end we will use everything…even the heads for stock.”

According to Farrell, the local shrimp is not only free of toxins like mercury, PCBs and other dioxins but it helps to create awareness of otherwise unknown local providers and leverages the purchasing power in the region.

Click here to find out more about Ohio shrimp from Calala Water Haven or what's on the menu at Case's dinning halls.