February 18, 2025 — According to the Southern Shrimp Alliance (SSA), U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refusals of foreign shrimp for banned antibiotics in 2024 were at their highest rates since 2016.
The FDA refused 81 shipments for antibiotic contamination last year, with the vast majority of contaminated products coming from India (31) and Vietnam (18). Many of the refused shipments came from Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP)-certified producers and processors.
March 21, 2024 — Noriko Kuwabara was excited to try a new recipe she’d seen on social media for crispy shrimp spring rolls, so she and her husband headed to Costco’s frozen foods aisle. But when she grabbed a bag of farm-raised shrimp from the freezer and saw “Product of India,” she wrinkled her nose.
“I actually try to avoid shrimp from India,” said Kuwabara, an artist. “I hear some bad things about how it’s grown there.”
She sighed and tossed the bag in her cart anyway.
Kuwabara’s dilemma is one an increasing number of American consumers face: With shrimp the leading seafood eaten in the United States, the largest supplier in this country is India, where the industry struggles with labor and environmental problems.
The Associated Press traveled in February to the state of Andhra Pradesh in southeast India to document working conditions in the booming industry, after obtaining an advance copy of an investigation released Wednesday by the Chicago-based Corporate Accountability Lab, a human rights legal group, that found workers face “dangerous and abusive conditions.”
November 25, 2023 — Global shrimp prices are stabilizing at “unfavorably low levels,” pushing many farmers into loss-making situations.
Raw vannamei exports from India were pulling in an average of USD 6.32 (EUR 5.80) per kilo in September, down from USD 7.54 (EUR 6.92) in September 2022 and from USD 6.55 (EUR 6.01) in July 2023 – but up slightly from the USD 6.29 (EUR 5.77) it pulled in in August 2023, according to Shrimp Insights Founder Willem van der Pijl.
July 13, 2023 — Shrimp might be back on the menu for millions of people who suffer allergic reactions from eating the shellfish.
A peer-reviewed article published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, “Reduced Allergenicity of Shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) by Altering the Protein Fold, Digestion Susceptibility, and Allergen Epitopes” has found reverse-pressure sterilization can produce a less-allergenic roasted shrimp product.
December 20, 2018 — Cheaper farmed shrimp prices are benefitting American retailers and consumers this holiday season.
Prices for imported farmed shrimp have dropped significantly since the summer, and fallen an additional USD 0.30 to 0.40 (EUR 0.26 to 0.35) per pound over the last month.
There are a variety of reasons for the steep drop in prices. Overproduction, heavy inventory in United States’ cold storage, rejections of imported shrimp by the U.S.A., and close competition for vannamei from other suppliers are all impacting shrimp pricing. Shrimp from India, which is the largest supplier to the United States, is especially impacted according to Haroon Chaudhri, director of sales for importer CleanWaterFish.
Delivered duty-paid New York prices on Indian shrimp are as low as USD 3.20 (EUR 2.80) per pound for 30/40s headless, shell-on, and USD 3.65 (EUR 3.19) per pound for 50/60s, Chaudhri said.
“These are much lower than a few months ago, and I see them falling further,” Chaudhri told SeafoodSource.
Shrimp imports to the U.S. rose 8.7 percent in October compared to the same month in 2017, according to National Marine Fisheries Service data, while Indian imports soared 17.2 percent in October compared to last year.