The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now released information for entry line refusals for the month of December. The agency reported refusing a total of 213 seafood entry lines last month. Of these, only 3 (1.4%) were of shrimp entry lines refused for reasons related to banned antibiotics.
For the year, the FDA refused a record total of 389 entry lines of shrimp products for reasons related to banned antibiotics.
The three entry line refusals in December involved two companies, one Vietnamese and one Indian:
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Tan Phong Phu Seafood Company (Vietnam), a company not currently listed on either Import Alert 16-124 or Import Alert 16-129, hadtwo entry lines refused for shrimp contaminated with veterinary drug residues in the Southwest District; and
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Jagadeesh Marine Exports (India), a company listed on Import Alert 16-124 for chloramphenicol on November 16, 2015 but not currently listed on Import Alert 16-129, had one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with veterinary drug residues in the Southwest District.
December marked the first month since April 2014 wherein FDA did not report a refusal of shrimp from Malaysia for reasons related to veterinary drug residues. The absence of refusals of Malaysian shrimp entry lines corresponds with the collapse of Malaysian shrimp imports into the United States beginning in August. Between August and November 2015, less shrimp was imported from Malaysia in total for those four months than had been imported in July 2015 alone.
Outside of Malaysia, 2015 was also a record year for refusals of shrimp entry lines from India. With the entry line refusal in December, a total of 34 entry lines of shrimp from India were refused in 2015 for reasons related to banned antibiotics. This amount is exactly half the total amount (68) of entry lines of shrimp from India refused over the previous thirteen years combined.
With the two refusals in December, refusals of shrimp entry lines from Vietnam for reasons related to banned antibiotics came close to the record high posted in 2014 even with a sharp decline in the amount of shrimp exported from Vietnam to the United States in 2015. For all of 2015, 40 entry lines of shrimp from Vietnam were refused for reasons related to banned antibiotics compared to 48 in 2014.
