The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued another recall of frozen shrimp from Indonesia due to concerns about radioactive contamination, raising renewed scrutiny on food safety and export monitoring.
On Friday, the FDA issued a recall involving 83,800 frozen shrimp packages distributed by Direct Source Seafood LLC and marketed under the ‘Market 32’ and ‘Waterfront Bistro’ labels, citing possible contamination with Cesium‑137 (Cs‑137).
The FDA notice stated that the recalled products were distributed in at least 18 U.S. states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Oregon, and Utah.
Cesium‑137 (Cs‑137) is a synthetic radioactive isotope created during nuclear reactions. Small quantities are present worldwide in soil, food, and the atmosphere. Indonesia, however, has neither nuclear weapons nor nuclear power facilities.
Indonesia’s Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries stated that the recall is not a new incident but part of an ongoing return process tied to shipments that were previously identified.
“This is old stock from PT Bahari Makmur Sejati. It is the same case from August,” said Ishartini, the ministry’s head of quality control.
In August, the FDA found traces of Cs-137 in a shipment connected to a processing plant run by PT Bahari Makmur Sejati at the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate (KIMC) in Serang, Banten. Since then, U.S. authorities have sent back over 400 containers, totaling about 6,000 tons of frozen shrimp, to the company, according to the ministry.
The recent recall is linked to a wider pattern of rejected shipments due to radioactive contamination warnings. Officials had earlier flagged at least 24 firms in and around KIMC as having been exposed to Cs‑137, including five factories producing consumer goods.
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