Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health has issued a warning against a certain volume of fresh and frozen shrimp imported from India and has decided to recall the affected quantity from the market, Gulf Times reported on 8 October.
Analyses at Qatar’s food laboratories have reportedly found that some volumes of Indian imported shrimp are microbially contaminated, according to a statement from the ministry.
The public health ministry is working with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to recall all the contaminated shrimp from the market.
Consumers are told not to eat the contaminated shrimp and return it to where it was bought if the shrimp was purchased three days prior to 7 October when the warning was issued. They are advised to visit a doctor in case the contaminated shrimp has been consumed and related health problems, including symptoms of gastro-intestinal infection, arose.
In the U.S., two companies from India, along with others from Hong Kong and Vietnam, also had their banned antibiotic-contaminated shrimp refused in August this year. Two entry lines of India-based Munnangi Sea Foods were refused by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Division of Southeast Imports on 15 August because of the presence of nitrofurans in its shipments. The same day, that FDA division refused one entry line of another Indian company, Falcon Marine Exports, after finding contamination from nitrofurans and poisonous chloramphenicol.
India’s seafood sector is facing a slowdown in exports due to cooling demand in its major markets. In the U.S., the top destination for seafood products from India, shrimp stockpiling has dampened demand. The COVID-19 lockdowns in several Chinese cities are dampening sales to China while Europe, another key market for Indian exporters, is struggling with an energy crisis as Russia threatens to cut off its gas supply in retaliation for the arming of its opponent in the Russia-Ukraine war, forcing buyers there to reconsider their purchase plans.
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