Farmers also contend that the FDA has set them an impossible scientific demand: proof that they can produce completely salmonella-free turtles and that those turtles will never be reinfected.
About 80 farmers in Louisiana sell 4 million turtles a year, mostly to China and Europe because of the U.S. ban.
"When it was first put into place, turtles were being caught out of streams, lakes, roadways and being sold in pet stores," Jolly said. "There were problems with salmonella in children and elderly people. Since then, with the evolution of science of farm-raised turtles, it's not even the same world."
But the FDA, he said, "has never recognized our science. They've kept a black mark on our names for 35 years."
The FDA and other advocates of the ban say small turtles still pose a health risk.
A salmonella outbreak in 2007-08 sickened 107 people, most of them children, in 34 states; one-third of the patients had to be hospitalized. Patients included girls who swam with pet turtles in a backyard pool and younger children who kissed turtles or put small turtles into their mouths.