FDA Refuses Antibiotic-Contaminated Shrimp from Two BAP-Certified Processors
FDA Refuses Antibiotic-Contaminated Shrimp from Two BAP-Certified Processors
The Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA) is an organisation in the U.S. made up of shrimp fishermen, shrimp processors and other members of the domestic industry from eight warmwater shrimp-producing states: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.
The SSA recently released a news story detailing that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published data on fifty-seven seafood entry-line refusals for October 2024. Among these, eight (8.8%) were for shrimp due to banned antibiotics. Additionally, an additional entry line refusal for shrimp in September which has not been reported previously, was included.
The FDA has also removed references to three entry-line refusals of shrimp exported by an Indian company for veterinary drug residues, that were initially reported in January 2024. These three refusals have been deleted from the 2024 total. Despite this adjustment, with two months remaining in the calendar year, entry-line refusals of shrimp for banned antibiotics in 2024 have already reached the second-highest annual total since 2017.
The refusals of shrimp contaminated with banned antibiotics in September and October were attributed to shipments from two different Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)-certified shrimp processors one in Bangladesh and the other in Vietnam:
– A processor in Bangladesh, currently operating under a two-star BAP certification for its processing plant and an additional BAP certification for a related shrimp farm, had one entry line refused for shrimp contaminated with Nitrofurans in September 2024.
– A processor in Vietnam, which operates under a four-star BAP certification for its processing plant, had two entry lines of breaded shrimp refused due to veterinary drug residues and Nitrofurans in October 2024. On the same day, three more entry lines from the same processor were refused for shrimp contaminated with veterinary drug residues and Nitrofurans.
Screening for Nitrofurans is a crucial part of ensuring the safety, sustainability, and ethical standards of the seafood industry. It helps prevent health risks to consumers, protects the environment, and ensures compliance with regulatory standards in international trade.
Randox Food Diagnostics has developed the Antimicrobial Array III, a powerful multiplex Biochip designed to support the seafood industry. This advanced technology enables the simultaneous detection of a range of Nitrofurans in a single prawn or shrimp sample using the Evidence Investigator analyser. Using Biochip Array Technology, processors can test up to 45 samples for multiple Nitrofurans in under 2 hours. Additionally, several ELISA kits are available for detecting veterinary drug residues in prawn, shrimp, and fish samples.
For more information, contact us directly via email: info@randoxfood.com