Saving Seafood

Radioactive shrimp update: Walmart store brand and 5 other brands recalled

August 25, 2025 —  Days after the FDA issued a do-not-eat warning about imported shrimp sold at Walmart, a Florida company actually issued a recall of that shrimp and a California company recalled shrimp sold under five other brands.

So, if you have shrimp in your freezer or thawing in your refrigerator, check to make sure it’s not from Sand Bar, Arctic Shores, Best Yet, First Street, Great American Seafood Imports or Walmart’s Great Value brand.

This all concerns worries that the shrimp might be contaminated Cesium-137 (Cs-137), a man-made radioactive isotope. Breaded and frozen shrimp from Indonesia’s PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati, which does business as BMS Foods, tested positive from Cs-137, although the FDA said at a “level that would not pose an acute hazard to consumers.”

Read the full article at Miami Herald

US legislation would require FDA approval of foreign shrimp production facilities

May 5, 2025 — Newly introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives would require the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure foreign shrimp production matches American safety standards.

“Growing up on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, I know how important the shrimp industry is – not just to our economy but to our way of life,” U.S. Representative Mike Ezell (R-Mississippi) said in a statement. “Our local Gulf Coast shrimpers are playing by the rules while foreign producers are flooding the market with unsafe, low-quality products. This bill is about leveling the playing field, protecting our American producers, and keeping America healthy.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

How major FDA changes – both proposed and implemented – could impact the US seafood industry

April 24, 2025 — Significant proposed regulatory changes within the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), along with large layoffs that have occurred across the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) – which oversees the FDA – could greatly affect seafood importers, processors, and other industry stakeholders in the near future, according to a former FDA seafood specialist.

The recent HHS layoffs, which total nearly 20,000, include personnel with expertise in seafood, traditional foods, and labeling, “leaving the FDA with lack of expertise in these areas,” said Brian Ravitch, a senior regulatory advisor at Washington, D.C., U.S.A.-based law firm Olsson Frank Weeda who also worked at the FDA for 25 years, including time spent as a seafood specialist.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

US lawmakers propose transferring blue catfish inspections back to the FDA

March 27, 2025 — Recently introduced legislation meant to improve conservation in the Chesapeake Bay region of the United States would also reduce inspection requirements for blue catfish, making it easier to operate a commercial fishery.

“The bill would also enable more watermen to improve their bottom line by harvesting invasive blue catfish,” Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) Federal Director Keisha Sedlacek said in a statement. “This would help protect native Bay species and the seafood industry from this voracious predator while supporting the region’s economy.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

FDA pushes back Food Traceability Rule compliance to 2028

March 21, 2025 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has pushed back the compliance date for its Food Traceability Rule by 30 months.

“The compliance date extension affords covered entities the additional time necessary to ensure complete coordination across the supply chain in order to fully implement the final rule’s requirements – ultimately providing FDA and consumers with greater transparency and food safety,” the agency said in a 20 March constituent update.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

2024 FDA shrimp refusals for banned antibiotics hit highest level in eight years

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.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

MASSACHUSETTS: Cans of tuna are being recalled. Does this affect Massachusetts? What to know

February 13, 2025 —  Tri-Union Seafoods brand of tuna fish being sold at Walmart, Costco and Trader Joe’s locations are being recalled, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

“This voluntary recall is out of an abundance of caution following the notification from our supplier that the ‘easy open’ pull tab can lid on limited products encountered a manufacturing defect that may compromise the integrity of the product seal (especially over time), causing it to leak, or worse, be contaminated with clostridium botulinum, a potentially fatal form of food poisoning,” a release from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated.

Here’s what to know.

Read the full article at South Coast Today

LOUISIANA: US FDA issues recall of Louisiana oysters due to norovirus illnesses

February 7, 2025 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning retailers and restaurants not to sell certain oysters that could be contaminated with norovirus after 15 people became ill in Louisiana, U.S.A.

On 5 February, the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) closed an oyster shellfish harvesting area in Area 3 and ordered a recall of all oysters harvested from that area since 10 January 2025. Fifteen people became ill with a norovirus-like illness after eating oysters from Area 3 across several New Orleans, Louisiana, restaurants between 15 and 31 January, the LDH said.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

NFI, FMI push back against US FDA’s “unnecessary” new food labeling proposal

January 16, 2025 — The National Fisheries Institute (NFI) and other organizations are concerned about new front-of-package (FOP) nutrition labels the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing for most packaged U.S. food products.

The FDA said the new nutrition labels would give consumers “readily visible information about a food’s saturated fat, sodium, and added sugars content – three nutrients directly linked with chronic diseases when consumed in excess.”

Read the full article at SeafoodSource