This morning, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published data reporting that there were 92 total seafood entry line refusals in July, of which 3 (3.3%) were of shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics. Earlier, the FDA also released additional information regarding refusals of another 7 seafood entry lines in June, of which 4 were of shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics.
Including the additional refusals now reported for June, through July, the FDA has refused a total of 50 entry lines of antibiotic-contaminated shrimp. As shown in the table below, if refusals continue at this pace through the remaining five months of the year, the eventual annual total will be the highest reported by the agency since 2016.
The four additional shrimp entry lines now reported as refused in June and the three shrimp entry lines refused in July for reasons related to antibiotics were for shipments from Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam:
· Rupsha Fish & Allied Industries Ltd. (Factory) (Bangladesh), a company that is currently listed twice on Import Alert 16-129 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans”) as of February 5, 2021, had three additional entry lines refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans by the Division of Northeast Imports on June 29, 2021;
· Can Tho Import Export Fishery Limited Company, aka CAFISH (Vietnam), a company that is currently listed on Import Alert 16-129 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans”) as of March 4, 2021, had two entry lines refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans and veterinary drug residues by the Division of Northeast Imports, with one entry line refused on June 28, 2021 and the other refused on July 14, 2021;
· Apex Frozen Foods Pvt Ltd (India), a company that is currently listed on Import Alert 16-129 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans”) as of December 16, 2020, had one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans and veterinary drug residues by the Division of West Coast Imports on July 2, 2021; and
· Oceanbest (M) Sdn Bhd (Malaysia), a company located in peninsular Malaysia that is not on the green list of Import Alert 16-136 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Aquacultured Shrimp and Prawns from Peninsular Malaysia Due to Presence of Drug Residues from Unapproved Animal Drugs or the Presence of Unsafe Food Additives”), had one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with veterinary drug residues and unsafe additives by the Division of West Coast Imports on July 12, 2021.
About the Southern Shrimp Alliance
The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) is an organization of shrimp fishermen, shrimp processors, and other members of the domestic industry in the eight warmwater shrimp producing states of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.
