For August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that 2 out of the 72 (2.8%) total seafood entry line refusals were of shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics.
Through the first two-thirds of the year, the FDA has now refused a total of 52 entry lines of shrimp for reasons related to veterinary drug residues, compared to 53 all of last year and 55 in all of 2017.
The two shrimp entry lines refused in August for veterinary drug residues were from two different exporters in India and China:
- Ram’s Assorted Cold Storage Limited (India), 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 Southwest Imports on August 15, 2019; and
- Fuqing Yihua Aquatic Food Co., Ltd. (China), a company that continues to be 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 one entry line refused for breaded shrimp contaminated with nitrofurans and veterinary drug residues by the Division of Southwest Imports on August 14, 2019.
The shipment of shrimp refused from Ram’s Assorted Cold Storage Limited was the twenty-seventh (27) entry line of shrimp from India refused in 2019 for reasons related to banned antibiotics.