The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s refusals of imports of shrimp due to contamination by antibiotics is at its highest rate since 2016, according to new data.
From January through September 2021, the FDA refused a total of 64 entry lines of antibiotic-contaminated shrimp, the highest number of refusals for these reasons since 2016, the Southern Shrimp Alliance said in a press release. However, only three shrimp import refusals in September were for banned antibiotics, SSA said.
The 58 total seafood entry line refusals in September are the second-lowest ever reported for that month since the agency started publishing entry line refusal data in 2002.
The three refused shrimp products were from a single exporter: Cantho City, Vietnam-based Can Tho Import Export Fishery Limited Company, also known as CAFISH.
The company is currently listed on Import Alert 16-129 (Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans) as of March 2021.
Photo courtesy of U.S. Food and Drug Administration
