USA.- In July, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that 3 out of the 85 (3.5%) total seafood entry line refusals were of shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics.
Through the first seven months of the year, the FDA has refused a total of 50 entry lines of shrimp for reasons related to veterinary drug residues, compared to 53 all of last year and 55 in all of 2017. With five months left in the year, the number of shrimp entry lines refused for reasons related to banned antibiotics in 2019 is likely to be the highest reported by the agency since 2016.
The three shrimp entry lines refused in July for veterinary drug residues were from two different exporters in China and Vietnam:
– Zhanjiang Longwei Aquatic Products Industry Co., Ltd. (China), a company that is not listed as exempted from Import Alert 16-131 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Aquacultured, Shrimp, Dace, and Eel from China – Presence of New Animal Drugs and/or Unsafe Food Additives”), had two entry lines refused for breaded shrimp contaminated with veterinary drug residues by the Division of West Coast Imports on July 10, 2019; and
– Tra Kha Seafood Processing Factory (Workshop 1) (Vietnam), a company that is not currently listed on Import Alert 16-124 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Aquaculture Seafood Products Due to Unapproved Drugs”), Import Alert 16-127 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Crustaceans Due to Chloramphenicol”), or Import Alert 16-129 (“Detention Without Physical Examination of Seafood Products Due to Nitrofurans”), had one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with veterinary drug residues by the Division of Southeast Imports on July 24, 2019.
The two shipments of breaded shrimp refused from Zhanjiang Longwei were the first shrimp entry lines from China refused in 2019 for reasons related to banned antibiotics. Forty of the fifty refusals of entry lines of shrimp contaminated with veterinary drug residues in 2019 have originated either in India (26) or the United Arab Emirates (14).
In addition, the FDA also reported that it had refused two entry lines of shrimp from India for the presence of salmonella in July.
Source: Southern Shrimp Alliance
