FDA Ramps Up Inspections of Shrimp Amid Radioactive Contamination Reports, RFK Jr. Confirms

‘We just stopped a shipment that was contaminated’ with a radioactive substance, the U.S. Health secretary said.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in Washington in a file photograph. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Tuesday that federal health authorities are taking a closer look at shrimp being imported into the United States after the Food and Drug Administration issued warnings about potentially radioactive shrimp that were recalled last week.

“We have now increased FDA inspections of shrimp to make sure that Americans are not eating ... contaminated shrimp,” Kennedy said at a Cabinet meeting in reference to alerts that were sent out about shrimp that was contaminated with Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope.

Kennedy also said that South Asian countries “are now dumping shrimp on our country, and the shrimp is heavily contaminated” and that “we just stopped a shipment that was contaminated with [Cesium-137].”

He continued to say, “They’re farming these shrimps and they’re using bactericides and antibiotics and all kinds of chemicals, and the shrimp are so contaminated. The European nations won’t take them, so they’re dumping them all here. We have the most sustainable and most highly regulated fishing industry in the world. What our fishermen do is a good thing. And all of the trawlers in the Gulf and in Alaska are being shut down.”

Frozen shrimp sold under the Walmart Great Value brand and several brands under the California-based Southwind Foods company were recalled last week because the shrimp may have been exposed to Cesium-137 by an Indonesian processing company, PT Bahari Makmur Sejati, according to the FDA. That company was placed on the FDA’s import alert list last week.

A full list of recalled shrimp can be accessed through the FDA’s website. The impacted bags of shrimp were distributed in more than a dozen states, and customers are advised not to eat the shrimp and return the product to the place of purchase for a refund.

The FDA said that the radioactive isotope, which is the byproduct of nuclear reactions, was discovered in shipping containers and in a sample of shrimp that was imported from Indonesia. The agency said that the detected levels are below FDA thresholds but said that the products could create potential health problems if consumed over a long period of time.

Long-term exposure to low levels of Cesium-137 can increase the risk of developing cancer, say health officials.

“The primary health effect of concern following longer term, repeated low dose exposure ... is an elevated risk of cancer, resulting from damage to DNA within living cells of the body,” the FDA warned in an advisory last week.

Southwind Foods recalled frozen shrimp sold under the brands Sand Bar, Arctic Shores, Best Yet, Great American, and First Street. The bagged products were distributed between July 17 and Aug. 8 to stores and wholesalers in nine states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Washington state.

Florida-based Beaver Street Fisheries, which produces shrimp for Walmart’s Great Value brand, recalled packages of Great Value frozen raw shrimp sold in 13 states because of potential radioactive contamination. The Great Value shrimp was distributed in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia, the FDA notice said.

The FDA has said that it is investigating the Cesium-137 reports and that “all containers and product testing positive or alerting for Cs-137 have been denied entry into the country,” referring to the isotope.

“The agency continues to coordinate with [Customs and Border Protection] to prevent any contaminated products from reaching consumers and is working with Indonesian seafood regulatory authorities to investigate the root cause of the contamination.”