On Friday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published detailed data regarding 35 seafood entry line refusals in October, of which six (17.1%) were for shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics. Further, the FDA also published data regarding an additional 14 seafood entry line refusals in September, of which seven (50.0%) were for shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics.
The FDA’s released data for October appears to only cover part of the month and encompassed imports just through October 24th. As with the partial information previously reported for September, the remainder of entry line refusals during the month are likely to be reported in December.
Based on what the agency has reported, through the first ten months of this year, the FDA has refused a total of forty-six entry lines of shrimp for banned antibiotics.
The thirteen newly-reported entry lines of shrimp refused for banned antibiotics in September and October were for shipments from a single Indian shrimp exporter:
- Milesh Marine Exports Pvt. Ltd. (India), a company that was added to Import Alert 16-129 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans”) for its shipments of shrimp on June 1, 2023, had seven entry lines refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans and veterinary drug residues by the Division of Southwest Imports on September 29, 2023, one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans by the Division of West Coast Imports on October 2, 2023, and five entry lines refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans and veterinary drug residues by the Division of West Coast Imports on October 12, 2023.
In addition, the FDA reported that the Division of Northeast Imports refused three entry lines of shrimp from the Ecuadorian exporter Industrial Pesquera Santa Priscila S.A. – San Felipe on October 11, 2023 due to salmonella, that the Division of West Coast Imports refused an entry line of shrimp from the Indian exporter Sandhya Aqua Exports Pvt Ltd for being filthy on October 13, 2023, and that the Division of Southeast Imports refused an entry line of shrimp from the Indian exporter Accelerated Freeze Drying Co. Ltd. for being filthy on October 10, 2023.