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Another day, another food recall — but this one’s, well, different. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration just released a safety alert to avoid some frozen shrimp because it may be radioactive. Yikes. Here’s everything you need to know about the situation, including exactly which products are affected.
Some imported frozen raw shrimp products may be contaminated with Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope, the FDA warns. The products were processed by PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati (doing business as BMS Foods), an Indonesian company.
Cs-137 is a “soft, flexible, silvery-white metal that becomes liquid near room temperature,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It is a byproduct of nuclear fission from reactors and testing, but is also created for use in medical devices and gauges, including Geiger counters and radiation therapy for cancer.
Though the level of Cs-137 detected in the shrimp are low, the products “could represent a potential health concern” from consumption of the shrimp over an extended period of time and “combined with radiation that exists in the environment and from other sources such as medical procedures.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection tested shipping containers in multiple ports (Los Angeles, Houston, Savannah, and Miami) and warned the FDA about possible Cs-137 contamination. Besides the shipping containers themselves, one sample of frozen breaded shrimp tested positive for Cs-137 contamination.
All containers testing positive were denied entry into the country, and the FDA is working with Indonesian authorities to determine the cause of the contamination.
An investigation by the FDA found that BMS Foods "violate[d] the Federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act in that it appears to have been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with Cs-137 and may pose a safety concern.”
Probably not. No shrimp that has tested positive for Cs-137 has entered the U.S. food supply, according to the FDA. However, you can never be too careful with these things, so the FDA has recommended that Walmart, the retailer of the affected frozen shrimp, recall a number of products.
Walmart did receive implicated frozen raw shrimp “imported after the date of first detection of Cs-137 by CBP, but from shipments that did not alert for Cs-137,” according to the FDA.
There are three Walmart products affected, all named Frozen Raw Ez Peel Tail-On Farm-Raised White Vannamei Shrimp and sold in 2-pound bags:
If you have any of these products in your freezer, the FDA advises you to not eat or serve it, and throw it out. Contact Walmart for a full refund.
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