On Sunday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published detailed data regarding 60 seafood entry line refusals in January, of which six (10.0%) were for shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics.
The six entry lines of shrimp refused for banned antibiotics in January were for shipments from three Indian shrimp exporters and an Ecuadorian shrimp exporter:
- Calcutta Seafoods Pvt. Ltd. (India), a company that currently operates under a four-star Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification for its processing plant (P10567), with additional BAP certifications for multiple shrimp farms, and that was added to Import Alert 16-129 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans”) for its shipments of shrimp on July 19, 2023, had three entry lines refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans by the Division of West Coast Imports on January 18, 2024;
- Devi Seafoods Limited (India), a company that currently operates under four-star Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certifications for two processing plants (Plant 1 = P10010; Plant 2 = 10011), with an additional BAP certification for a shrimp farm (“Devi Farm Group 2”), and that was added to Import Alert 16-124 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Aquaculture Seafood Products Due to Unapproved Drugs”) for the presence of gentian violet and leucogentian violet in its shipments of shrimp on February 1, 2024, had one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans by the Division of West Coast Imports on January 5, 2024;
- Kader Exports Private Limited, Unit 04 (India), a company that currently operates under a four-star Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification for its Unit 04 processing plant (P10302), with additional BAP certifications for multiple shrimp farms, and that was added to Import Alert 16-129 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans”) for its shipments of shrimp on January 22, 2024 and to Import Alert 16-124 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Aquaculture Seafood Products Due to Unapproved Drugs”) for leucomalachite green in its shipments of shrimp on December 15, 2023, had one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans by the Division of Northeast Imports on January 23, 2024; and
- Propemar S.A. (Ecuador), a company that is not currently listed on Import Alert 16-124 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Aquaculture Seafood Products Due to Unapproved Drugs”), Import Alert 16-127 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Crustaceans Due to Chloramphenicol”), or Import Alert 16-129 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans”), had one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans by the Division of Southeast Imports on January 11, 2024;
In addition, on January 22, 2024, the FDA also added another processing plant operating under a four-star Best Aquaculture Practices certification, Fimex VN (P10061) to Import Alert 16-127 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Crustaceans Due to Chloramphenicol”) for chloramphenicol detected in its shipments of shrimp.
The FDA also announced the January refusals of another six entry lines of shrimp from Bangladesh (4) and India (2) for the presence of salmonella and filth and two additional entry lines of shrimp from India for filth.