Recently Published Academic Studies Highlight the Importance of Monitoring Antimicrobial-Resistant Pathogens in Imported Shrimp

When President Trump signed the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2019 into law last month, the bill provided the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with “$500,000 to test Antibiotic Resistance in Imported Seafood.” By specifically funding a testing program, Congress emphasized the importance of detecting and monitoring antimicrobial pathogens on imported seafood, including shrimp.  Congress’s creation of a new testing program coincides […]

Filed Under


Government Spending Bill Includes New Funds for FDA Seafood Inspections

Last night Congress passed a funding bill that provides the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with significant additional resources to address contaminated seafood products that are introduced to the U.S. market. The new FDA funding, championed by Senator Kennedy (LA) and co-sponsored by Senator Cassidy (LA), increases by twenty-six percent the resources the FDA must spend to inspect imported seafood at the […]

Filed Under


U.S. Customs and Border Protection Issues Withhold Release Order Barring Imports from Fishing Vessel

In the context of the $6.5 billion worth of shrimp imported into the United States from all over the world in 2017, the $4.6 million in shrimp we imported from Myanmar (Burma) that year was just a small drop in a huge ocean. But $4.6 million worth of shrimp is still a lot of shrimp. And it was a substantial jump up […]

Filed Under


FDA Cracks Down on Indian Shrimp to Begin 2019

In 2017 and 2018, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refused a total of twenty-seven (27) entry lines of Indian shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics. For these two years, Indian shrimp accounted for one out of every five entry lines of shrimp refused for banned antibiotics (27 out of 108). Yet, shrimp sourced from India accounts for more […]

Filed Under


Senate Votes 87-11 to Increase Funding for FDA Inspections of Foreign Seafood Facilities and Imported Seafood

Last night, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly voted in favor of an amendment to the “Interior, Environment, Financial Services, and General Government Appropriations Act, 2019” (H.R. 6147) offered by Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) and co-sponsored by Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La.) that significantly increased funding for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) inspections of imported seafood and foreign seafood facilities. […]

Filed Under