This morning, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published detailed data regarding 33 total seafood entry line refusals in January, of which 4 (12.1%) were of shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics.
The four shrimp entry lines refused in January were for shipments from Bangladesh and Vietnam:
- Gemini Sea Food, Ltd. (Bangladesh), a company that is currently listed on Import Alert 16-129 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans”) as of November 15, 2021, had three entry lines refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans by the Division of West Coast Imports on January 11, 2022; and
- 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 one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans by the Division of Southeast Imports on January 12, 2022.
In addition, the FDA’s Division of West Coast Imports also refused an entry line of shrimp from Tra Kha Seafood Processing Factory (F69) on January 11, 2022 due to the presence of pesticides in the shrimp.
For January, the FDA reported refusals of seafood entry lines through the end of the month (January 31st). In refusing just 33 entry lines of seafood for any reason last month, the FDA established an unprecedented low in overall seafood entry line refusals for the month of January: