The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) kicked of 2017 with 145 entry line rejections in January, eight involving shrimp, on the basis of banned antibiotics, reported the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
January marks the highest amount of monthly rejections issued by the FDA since August 2016, and fits into a trend of higher total entry line rejections seen over the past three years. The latest refusals issued by the agency represent the highest amount of Thai shrimp rejections seen from the FDA since 2003.
“The number of entry lines reported as refused in January for Thai-origin shrimp is extremely unusual,” said the Southern Shrimp Alliance in a news release. “Prior to last month, since 2002 the public information available indicates that there have been a total of just 17 entry lines of shrimp refused from Thailand for reasons related to banned antibiotics. Fifteen of those 17 refusals took place in 2003. In other words, in the 13 years between 2004 and 2016, just two entry lines of shrimp from Thailand were refused by the FDA for reasons related to banned antibiotics.”
The following shrimp companies, from Thailand, Vietnam and China, were affected by the rejections: Narong Seafood (Thailand), Minh Phu Seafood (Vietnam), Ca Mau Seafood Processing & Service Joint Stock (Vietnam) and Jiachang Aquatic Product (China).
