FDA Refusals Of Shrimp With Banned Antibiotics Spike Again In July

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released to the public information regarding entry line refusals for the month of July. The agency reported refusing a total of 150 seafood entry lines last month. Of these, 54 (36%) were of shrimp entry lines refused for reasons related to banned antibiotics.

The refusals last month mark the fourth time this year that the number of entry line refusals of shrimp contaminated with antibiotics has exceeded 50 in a single month. The July total is the third highest amount reported by FDA for any month going back to 2002:

Rank	Month	Shrimp Entry Line Refusals for Antibiotics
1	March 2015	58
2	January 2015	58
3	July 2015	54
4	April 2015	51
5	January 2011	42

Through the first seven months of 2015, the FDA has now refused a total of 286 entry lines of shrimp products for reasons related to banned antibiotics. As shown in the chart below, the amount of entry line refusals so far this year substantially exceeds the number of refusals historically reported by FDA. In fact, with five months left in the year, the FDA has already refused more shrimp entry lines for banned antibiotics in 2015 than it reported in total during the six-year time period spanning from 2002 through 2007 (246). Moreover, while 2014 was the previous record year for such entry line refusals, the number of refusals reported for this year thus far exceeds the cumulative total reported by the FDA in 2013 and 2014 (283).

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