This morning, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released detailed data regarding eighty-two (82) seafood entry line refusals in May, of which eleven (13.4%) were for shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics.
Through the first five months of 2025, the FDA has reported refusing a total of thirty-three (33) entry lines of shrimp for reasons related to veterinary drug residues.
The eleven entry lines of shrimp refused for veterinary drug residues in May were attributed to shipments from five different exporters in Bangladesh, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, and Vietnam. As noted below, two of these five exporters are Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)-certified shrimp processors, with the Vietnamese BAP-certified company now added to all three major import alerts covering banned antibiotics in aquaculture due to findings of chloramphenicol, enrofloxacin, and nitrofurans in its shrimp shipments:
- Thong Thuan – Cam Ranh Seafood Joint Stock Company – Export Seafood Processing Factory – Cam Ranh (Vietnam), a company that currently operates under a four-star BAP certification for its processing plant (P10243), with an additional BAP certification for a related shrimp farm (F10787), and that was added to Import Alert 16-124 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Aquaculture Seafood Products Due to Unapproved Drugs”) on April 2, 2025 for the presence of enrofloxacin in its shrimp, to Import Alert 16-127 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of All Seafood Due to Chloramphenicol”) on March 31, 2025 for the presence of chloramphenicol in its shrimp, and to Import Alert 16-129 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans”) on May 8, 2025 for the presence of nitrofurans in its shrimp, had one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans by the Division of Northeast Imports on May 27, 2025;
- Apex Foods (Bangladesh), a company that currently operates under a two-star BAP certification for its processing plant (P10025), with an additional BAP certification for a related shrimp farm (F10058), and that was added to Import Alert 16-127 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of All Seafood Due to Chloramphenicol”) on November 25, 2024 for the presence of chloramphenicol in its shrimp, had one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans and veterinary drug residues by the Division of Northeast Imports on May 2, 2025 and had four entry lines refused for shrimp contaminated with chloramphenicol and poisonous chloramphenicol by the Division of West Coast Imports on May 20, 2025;
- Vasista Marine (India), a company that was added to Import Alert 16-129 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans”) on March 6, 2025 for the presence of nitrofurans in its shrimp, had two entry lines refused for shrimp contaminated with veterinary drug residues and nitrofurans by the Division of Northern Border Imports on May 9, 2025;
- EB Frozen Food Sdn. Bhd. (Malaysia), a company that is not currently included on the “green” list for Import Alert 16-136 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Aquacultured Shrimp and Prawn Products in all Market Forms from Peninsular Malaysia Due to the Presence of Unapproved Animal Drugs or Unsafe Food Additives”), had one entry line refused for shrimp cakes/balls contaminated with veterinary drug residues and unsafe additives by the Division of West Coast Imports on May 14, 2025 and one entry line refused for shrimp cakes/balls contaminated with veterinary drug residues and nitrofurans by the Division of Southeast Imports on May 16, 2025; and
- Gui Nan Hong Company Limited (Hong Kong), 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 one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with unsafe additives and veterinary drug residues by the Division of West Coast Imports on May 7, 2025.
Continuing its actions taken each month since February, the FDA refused another two entry lines of shrimp from Indonesia’s Mega Marine Pride in May due to deficiencies with the labeling of sulfites that were present in its shrimp.