Contaminated metal at an industrial site in Indonesia may be the source of radioactive material that led to massive recalls of imported frozen shrimp, international nuclear safety officials say, as efforts are underway to halt more U.S.-bound shipments.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Friday that officials are in “constant contact” with Indonesian nuclear regulators who have detected Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope, at a processing plant that sent millions of pounds of shrimp to the U.S.
“Preliminary information suggests that it may have originated from activities at a metal melting facility at the same industrial site or from the disposal of scrap metal junk to other areas of the site,” IAEA spokesperson Fredrik Dahl said in an email.
No U.S. investigators have been sent to the site in Serang, west of Jakarta, federal officials said.
Meanwhile, the company that exported the shrimp, PT Bahari Makmur Sejati, also known as BMS Foods, has recalled more than 300 shipping containers that were already on their way to the U.S., Dahl said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned last month that Cesium-137 was detected in shipping containers sent to four U.S. ports, and in a sample of imported frozen shrimp. That spurred multiple recalls of shrimp sold at Walmart, Kroger and other stores.
This week, additional recalls were issued by Tampa Maid Foods LLC, of Florida, for breaded butterfly shrimp sold under Admiral of the Fleet, Portico Seafood Classic and other labels.
None of the shrimp that triggered alerts or tested positive for Cesium-137 was released for sale, the FDA said. But other shipments sent to stores may have been manufactured under conditions that allowed the products to become contaminated, the agency said.
The risk appears to be small, but the shrimp could pose a “potential health concern” for people exposed to low levels of Cesium-137 over time, FDA officials said.
The FDA issued an import alert for shrimp from BMS Foods to stop the products from coming into the U.S.
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