US President Joe Biden will be including "butter poached Maine lobster" on a menu for a state dinner happening Thursday that is slated to include more than 400 guests, including French President Emmanuel Macron.

CNN reported Thursday the dinner is the first to happen during Biden's presidency, as the administration is interested in strengthening diplomatic relations with France.

The governor of Maine and the state's US congressional delegation quickly took to Twitter following the news, some using the dinner as an opportunity to further poke at US retailer Whole Foods.

Last month the retailer made a decision to pause purchasing of Maine lobster until the popular shellfish regains its Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification or is removed from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch red list.

Another Maine lawmaker, however, chided Biden for not doing more in the midst of a lobster industry in turmoil.

In October Maine Democratic House Rep. Jared Golden sent a letter to the president detailing the repercussions of his failure to protect Maine lobsterman as promised and urging him to oppose the right whale conservation measures currently proposed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA).

A US federal judge in November ruled NOAA's new lobster fishing restrictions designed to conserve rare whales will be delayed until 2024 to give the government time to design them.

The Biden Administration has not commented on the ruling so far, but in July proposed an expansion of mandatory vessel speed limits off the East Coast in an effort to protect endangered right whales from ship strikes, according to IntraFish's sister publication TradeWinds.

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