Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA) and Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) are demanding answers to a troubling pattern documented by the Southern Shrimp Alliance: foreign shrimp processors that have received the most recognizable third-party seafood certifications continue to ship unsafe products to American consumers.
On May 27, 2026, they sent letters to three major seafood certification programs — the Global Seafood Alliance, the Marine Stewardship Council, and the Aquaculture Stewardship Council — asking questions about how those programs address food safety failures in the seafood supply chains they certify. Senator Cassidy serves as Chairman of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, and Senator Tuberville is Chairman of the Subcommittee on Education and the American Family.
The Senators note a serious increase in food safety incidents, specifically with regard to imported seafood, writing: “Between August and October 2025, the FDA issued eight safety alerts on imported shrimp from just a single shrimp processor due to potential Cesium-137 contamination. Cesium-137 is a radioactive substance that can cause substantial health harms. This follows a long record of potential safety harms from imported shrimp.”
FDA Refusal Data Reveals Significant Certification Failures
The Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) certification program, operated by the Global Seafood Alliance, is one of the most widely recognized seafood labels in American supermarkets. Major retailers promote it to consumers as a mark of “seafood you can trust.” Importers and foreign processors tout it to reassure buyers of “safe, responsible and ethical farm-raised seafood.” But in 2026, it has become less a guarantee of safety than a recurring presence on FDA import refusal reports.
Analysis of FDA records for the first four months of 2026 shows that 86.2% of shrimp entry lines refused for banned antibiotics originated from BAP-certified processors. In April 2026 alone, seven of the eight shrimp entry lines the FDA refused for banned antibiotic residues came from BAP-certified facilities.
Preliminary FDA refusal data for May 2026 (through May 20) raises the same concerns. Of the ten shrimp entry lines refused for banned antibiotics in that period, half can be traced to three BAP-certified processing plants: Organic Shrimps in Bangladesh (one refusal); Asian Sea Corp. in Thailand (one refusal); and Handan Zhaohui in China (three refusals).
The Handan Zhaohui refusals are particularly noteworthy. FDA Import Alert 16-131 addresses the use of unapproved veterinary drugs in Chinese aquaculture and requires Chinese shrimp processors to take basic compliance steps to earn placement on the alert’s approved exporter list before shipping shrimp to the United States. Handan Zhaohui is not on that list — meaning it has not met the minimum compliance threshold FDA has established for Chinese shrimp exporters. That a processor in this position holds a BAP certification is precisely the kind of question the Senate’s letters are asking the Global Seafood Alliance to address.
Why Congressional Attention Matters
The Senators’ letters represent a significant escalation in government scrutiny of private seafood certification programs. These organizations operate largely outside direct federal oversight. They set their own standards, conduct their own audits, and market their labels directly to consumers and retailers.
“When certification labels fail to deliver on their safety promises, they must be held accountable,” said Blake Price, Director of the Southern Shrimp Alliance. “We thank Chairman Cassidy and Senator Tuberville for asking important questions regarding the gap between the public food safety record and the claims of certification programs.”
The recent letters expand on previous efforts to protect families’ health from imported shrimp that contain dangerous radioactive substances. In November, Senators Cassidy and Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) wrote to Walmart, Kroger, and Albertsons about how the safety of foreign shrimp is assessed in light of repeated recalls. Between August and October 2025, the FDA issued eight safety alerts related to imported shrimp potentially contaminated with Cesium-137, a radioactive substance linked to cancer.
Scrutinizing the protocols of certification bodies is a logical next step. If retailers rely on third-party certifications as a safety backstop, then the certifiers themselves must answer for their claims.
Expansion of that investigation to encompass antibiotic violations across seafood reflects a growing recognition that imported seafood safety problems are not isolated incidents but a pattern of systemic failure over recent years.
Additional Resources
The letters from Senators Cassidy and Tuberville are available on the Senate HELP Committee’s website: https://www.help.senate.gov/rep/newsroom/press/chairman-cassidy-tuberville-expand-investigation-into-foreign-imported-radioactive-shrimp-protect-louisiana-families
Read the letters from Senators Cassidy and Kennedy to grocers: https://www.cassidy.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/cassidy-kennedy-raise-concerns-on-foreign-imported-radioactive-shrimp-advocate-for-gulf-shrimp/
Read SSA’s analysis of April 2026 FDA refusal data: https://shrimpalliance.com/april-2026-antibiotic-refusals/