The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (USFDA) red-listed several shrimp exporters from Malaysia following detection of illegal antibiotics in their cargoes.
But Malaysian authorities have ruled out any use of antibiotics in shrimp farming in the country. They blamed transshipment for causing the U.S. prohibition.
The U.S. regulator has placed many Malaysian exporters on its red list after two antibiotics – nitrofurans and chloramphenicol – were found in 44 shrimp shipment samples sent by Malaysian exporters between 2009 and 2018, The Star reported 5 January.
In a statement, the Malaysia Fisheries Department said the U.S. decision only affects a certain number of exporters and does not involve the entirety of Malaysian aquaculture exports. It also confirmed that no banned antibiotics have been detected in the country for years and that the illegal substances found by the FDA might have come from transshipment.
“We suspect an element of transshipment, involving shrimp from foreign countries outside of our jurisdiction, that were imported and then re-exported to the United States,” the department said in a statement.
The country’s 1,200 shrimp farmers, 40 hatcheries ,and 15 processing factories, which are closely monitored by authorities, have been granted Malaysian Good Agricultural Practices certificates.
“A total of 2,466 shrimp samples were collected from 2008 till now and analyzed by the Fisheries Biosecurity laboratory. No banned antibiotics were found in the shrimp,” the department said.
Australia has recognized Malaysia’s Fish Quality Certificates, while the Singapore Food Agency has announced that the Malaysian shrimp exports it has inspected did not contain the two banned antibiotics, the Malaysian department said.
In a Facebook post on 5 January, Malaysian Deputy Agriculture and Agro-based Minister Sim Tze Tzin also confirmed shrimp produced in Malaysia is safe to eat. Tzin said most local farmers ceased using antibiotics in shrimp more than 10 years ago because they wanted to make sure their shrimp qualified for to be exported.
Tzin said the Malaysian exporters banned from exporting to the U.S. could have been engaging in transshipment activities.
Photo courtesy of Phensri Ngamsommitr/Shutterstock
