The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has refused shipments from Nekkanti Sea Foods and other shrimp exporters after finding they contained banned antibiotics.
In April 2022, eight shrimp entry lines from five exporters in Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, and Malaysia were refused because of banned antibiotics, accounting for 7.5 percent of the 107 seafood entry line refusals in the month.
Nekkanti Sea Foods Limited, a major shrimp exporter based in Visakhapatnam, India, had one entry line refused on 21 April because it was contaminated with veterinary drug residues. In early May, the company was listed on an FDA import alert, which announced the detention of a Nekkanti Sea Foods shrimp cargo without physical examination due to the presence of nitrofurans.
Another refusal order was made to one entry line of Mr. Fang’s Store (Putian) Green Food Co. from China, which was found to be contaminated with veterinary drug residues and unsafe additives on 4 April. Citing the same reason, the FDA also refused an entry line from Hong Kong’s Wing Cheong Marine Product in the month.
Three entry lines from Bangladesh’s Gemini Sea Food were refused in April, all due to contamination from nitrofurans and veterinary drug residues.
Malaysia’s EB Frozen Food had two entry lines refused by the FDA as they were found being contaminated with veterinary drug residues and unsafe additives.
Additionally, another 12 entry lines of shrimp were also refused by the FDA due to the presence of salmonella, and another four entry lines were refused for being filthy.
Between January and April 2022, the FDA refused 31 shrimp cargoes due to the presence of banned antibiotics, according to the Southern Shrimp Alliance.
Photo courtesy of Nekkanti Sea Foods
