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FDA’s Refusals of Indian Shrimp for Banned Antibiotics at Record Levels

Yesterday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released details regarding imports refused entry into the United States for the month of April. In total, the agency reported refusing 171 seafood entry lines last month. Of these, 20 (11.7%) were of shrimp entry lines refused for reasons related to banned antibiotics.

Through the first third of this year, the FDA has refused a total of 45 entry lines of shrimp for banned antibiotics.

The twenty entry line refusals in April involved four companies from three different countries and were reported by four different regional offices of the FDA:
  • Five Star Marine Exports Pvt. Limited (India), a company not currently listed on Import Alert 16-124 for chloramphenicol, but listed twice, at two different addresses, on Import Alert 16-129 for nitrofurans on October 9, 2015, had nine entry lines refused for shrimp contaminated with veterinary drug residues and nitrofurans in the New York District and had another seven entry lines refused for shrimp contaminated with veterinary drug residues, nitrofurans, and salmonella in the New York District;
  • Comercializadora de Mariscos Dona Chayo SA de CV (Mexico), a company not currently listed on either Import Alert 16-124 or Import Alert 16-129, had one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with veterinary drug residues and nitrofurans in the Southwest District. This was the first refusal reported by the FDA of a shrimp shipment from Mexico for banned antibiotics since 2007;
  • Rongcheng Donghua Foods Co. Ltd. (China), a company that has not been exempted from Import Alert 16-131, had two entry lines refused for breaded shrimp contaminated with veterinary drug residues in the Los Angeles District; and
  • Zhanjiang Regal Integrated Marine Resources Co., Ltd. (China), a company that had been exempted from Import Alert 16-131 in June 2015, had one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans in the Florida District. Zhanjiang Regal‘s exemption from Import Alert 16-131 was removed on February 29, 2016 and its shipments of shrimp to the United States are currently subject to detention without physical examination.
Sixteen of the twenty shrimp entry line refusals in April were for shipments from India. Last year, a record total of 34 entry lines of shrimp from India were refused for reasons related to banned antibiotics. In just four months of 2016, the FDA has already reported 31 entry lines of shrimp from India refused for the same reasons.

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