US refuses entry to 17 antibiotic-laced shrimp imports in September

In the first three weeks of September, the US rejected 76 seafood entry lines, of which 17 (22.4%) were of shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics.

According to the Southern Shrimp Alliance, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported refusing 67 entry lines of shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics during the first three quarters. These were substantially below the refusal levels reported in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The FDA also said there were additional seafood entry line refusals in August, including two Vietnamese shrimp and one Chinese shrimp refusals for reasons related to banned antibiotics.

Earlier the FDA reported that from Aug. 1 to 25, three of the 172 (1.7%) total seafood entry line refusals were of shrimp for reasons related to banned antibiotics. These three were from Vietnam, China and Hong Kong.

For June and July, the FDA reported no entry line refusals for shrimp contaminated with banned antibiotics.