Over the weekend, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published detailed data regarding 49 seafood entry line refusals in July, of which seven (14.3%) were for shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics.
The FDA has refused a total of 54 entry lines of shrimp for the presence of veterinary drug residues over the first seven months of 2024. If the agency continues at this pace for the remainder of the year, it will refuse over 90 entry lines of shrimp for antibiotics in 2024, the most for any calendar year since 2016.
The seven entry lines of shrimp refused for banned antibiotics in July were for shipments of shrimp from a shrimp exporter in China and one Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)-certified shrimp processor in Vietnam:
- Zhangzhou Hongwei Foods Co. Ltd. (China), a company that is not currently included on the “green” list for Import Alert 16-131 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Aquacultured Shrimp, Dace, and Eel from China and Hong Kong SAR – Presence of New Animal Drugs and/or Unsafe Food Additives”), had five entry lines refused for shrimp contaminated with unsafe additives and veterinary drug residues by the Division of West Coast Imports on July 24, 2024; and
- Fimex VN (Vietnam), a company that currently operates under a four-star BAP certification for its processing plant (P10061), that is not currently listed on Import Alert 16-124 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Aquaculture Seafood Products Due to Unapproved Drugs”) or Import Alert 16-129 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans”) or Import Alert 16-127 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Crustaceans Due to Chloramphenicol”), had two entry lines refused for breaded shrimp contaminated with chloramphenicol by the Division of Northeast Imports on July 25, 2024.