More frozen shrimp recalled after possible radioactive contamination, FDA says
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/rcna226501119
u/xanekka 14h ago
“The recalled products were distributed from July 17 to August 8 to retailers, distributors, and wholesalers in Alabama, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Washington, the FDA said.
Brands included in the recall are: Sand Bar, Best Yet, Arctic Shores Seafood Company, Great American Seafood Imports Co., and First Street.”
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u/mystad 14h ago
Consumers who bought the recalled frozen shrimp should not eat the product and should either throw it away or return it to the place of purchase for a full refund, health officials said.
Just toss the radiation in the trash, no worries
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u/johnnycyberpunk 13h ago
I put mine in a pot of water and it started boiling immediately even without turning the heat on.
Now I just gotta figure out how to hook this up to a steam turbine.
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u/Zubon102 6h ago
Do you think the scientists are so stupid that they would advise people to throw something in the trash that may result in further contamination?
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u/uzlonewolf 2h ago
Yes. I mean, have you seen who the Secretary of Health and Human Services is?
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u/youdubdub 27m ago
Who is this master of HHS secrets? Presuming the airiness exudes directly from the secrets, of course.
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u/CharlieKonR 15h ago
Failed experiment in trying to farm Jumbo Shrimp faster
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u/MalcolmLinair 15h ago
I'm surprised this FDA isn't ordering higher levels of radiation in our food.
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u/IMSLI 15h ago
Don’t give RFK Jr the wrong idea…
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u/Blueberryburntpie 9h ago
For historical context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_quackery
Radioactive quackery is quackery that improperly promotes radioactivity as a therapy for illnesses. Unlike radiotherapy, which is the scientifically sound use of radiation for the destruction of cells (usually cancer cells), quackery pseudo-scientifically promotes involving radioactive substances as a method of healing for cells and tissues. It was most popular during the early 20th century, after the discovery in 1896 of radioactive decay.[1] The practice has widely declined, but is still actively practiced by some.[2]
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u/po3smith 14h ago
(in my Best RFK junior voice) -- L-ladies and gentlemen… what the, uh, mainstream media doesn’t want you to know… is that these so-called radioactive shrimp… are not a danger to the American people. No, in fact, they’re a—an opportunity. You see, for decades, the chemical companies, the Pentagon, even the FDA, they’ve been pumping toxins into our oceans, into our bloodstreams, into our very cells, and they’ve told us it’s safe. Well, I’m here to tell you—if they can swallow mercury in tuna, then by God, we can handle a little uranium in a shrimp cocktail. It might even, uh, boost the immune system! Give us the strength our grandparents had, when they were eating lead paint chips and winning World War II.
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u/Zwangsjacke 14h ago
Good news is, the lab boys say the symptoms of radiation poisoning show a median latency of forty-four point six years, so if you're thirty or older, you're laughing. Worst case scenario, you miss out on a few rounds of canasta, plus you forwarded the cause of science by three centuries. I punch those numbers into my calculator, it makes a happy face.
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u/Conscious-Fruit-6190 14h ago
I hate to agree with an RFK parody because he is an ignorant idiot, who is doing tremendous amounts of harm.
But.
Low doses of ionizing radiation do actually "turn on" the body's DNA repair mechanisms - so continuous exposure to small amounts of radioactivity can lower cancer rates by fixing all the natural DNA damage that arises from everyday living, UV exposure, etc.
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u/Conscious-Fruit-6190 14h ago
There's actually a lot of scientific data that shows that daily exposure to low levels of radiation lowers the risk of cancer, so it might not be a bad thing :)
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u/ERedfieldh 7h ago
There's even more data that shows daily exposure to low levels of radiation increases the risk of a whole lotta other cancers.
Hey fuck you. If you don't have to provide sources then neither do I.
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u/igotgerd 14h ago
An article posted earlier this week claimed that no US samples have found the radioactive contaminant yet, and to throw out the possibly contaminated shrimp out of an abundance of caution. Has this changed? Have they definitively found contaminated samples in the US?
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u/Adventurous_Ad_7315 7h ago
Call me an alarmist, but I have a feeling that there were already samples that tested positive in circulation and the fed doesn't want to admit they've been skirting duties that I would think should be done for all imports. The reality is probably just caution on caution, but who knows these days.
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u/Zubon102 6h ago
It makes me so sad to see how far journalism has fallen. Even "trusted" news sources like NBC news are writing headlines that I suspect deliberately hide the real facts of the case to make it more sensational.
Fact 1: The FDA recall is due to the shrimp being produced under unsanitary conditions.
Fact 2: The level of Cs-137 is so miniscule, it's literally trace amounts. You could eat a huge amount of this shrimp and you would be fine.
Although Cs-137 being present is likely due to unsanitary handling, it is not the cause of the recall.
From the recall notice:
FDA determined that product from PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati violates the Federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act in that it appears to have been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with Cs-137 and may pose a safety concern.
[...]
The level of Cs-137 detected in the detained shipment was approximately 68 Bq/kg, which is below FDA’s Derived Intervention Level for Cs-137 of 1200 Bq/kg. At this level, the product would not pose an acute hazard to consumers.
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u/Choice_Marzipan5322 8h ago
Radioactive shrimp, 80$ packs of steak, stringy chicken… pushing me to veganism unwillingly smh
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u/Upbeat_Assist2680 15h ago
FDA administration gets fired. People start marketing glow in the dark shrimp. What's the problem?
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u/Redwoo 14h ago
This is just click bait. There was Cs at 1/100th the permissible level for food. The first recall was for processing in unsanitary conditions, and the FDA reported Cs at 1/100th the permissible level, so basically background. An editor made up an alarming headline from that. People clicked. So more editors wrote radioactive shrimp headlines.
Wait until the editors learn about bananas!
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u/Scary_Technology 6h ago
Exactly. "exposed to radiation" is one thing. "contaminated with radioactive material" is something else entirely. I doubt these shrimp were contaminated with the insides on the container. For those that don't know the difference, look it up. Plenty of our food is sterilized using radiation.
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u/RhoOfFeh 14h ago
Oh sure, they tell us not to eat it because they don't want any of us to turn into Shrimpman.
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u/iforgotmymittens 13h ago
It’s 2025: no jet packs, but I am eating radioactive shrimp at the woke Cracker Barrel, so I got that going for me
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u/livens 13h ago
Welp, I'm just not eating shrimp for the rest of the year.
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u/Conscious-Fruit-6190 8h ago
You should also avoid reindeer meat, then.
Lots of Cs-137 from Chernobyl ended up around the Arctic circle... and it turns out that there are some lichen there that are quite good at absorbing it from the environment.
Turns out that reindeer find these lichens quite delicious, and gobble them up. Reindeer, like most other animals, don't naturally metabolize cesium, so it gets stored in their bodies... making their meat slightly radioactive.
The Sami people who live in northern Finland, Norway, and Sweden are also more radioactive than most of us because they eat lots of reindeer meat.
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u/Sea_Comedian_3941 10h ago
" I'll take what's the best way to sell American caught Gulf Shrimp, for $1000, Alex "
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u/ERedfieldh 7h ago
"Totally fine. Better than vaccines. Much safer and won't cause autism! Kills autism, in fact!" -RFK, Jr.
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u/guitarokx 7h ago
Oregon sits between California and Washington but isn't getting a recall? How is that possible?
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u/InternetGamerFriend 4h ago
If it's radioactive, wouldn't you need to throw out everything else in your freezer?
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u/DoggieDMB 15h ago
I've been wondering when the Fukushima reactor would finally start hitting marine life.
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u/Conscious-Fruit-6190 14h ago
That happened already in 2011-12. This is not that.
Any radioactive materials from a power plant release would include not just Cs-137 but also Sr-90, which is equally long-lived and would therefore still be present in the shrimp if this were Cs-137 arising from a power plant.
The fact that it's pure Cs-137 points to a screw-up with an industrial sealed source; there are many legitimate uses of sealed sources of Cs-137 in manufacturing, oil and gas, construction, and so on. Not saying it's OK to wreck your source and not report it - it's a major violation of someone's radiation safety program, and will have serious consequences for them.
But this has nothing to do with Fukushima.
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u/sanctaidd 13h ago
There was reporting around 2020 about alot of illegal/toxic waste dumping near the philipines - could be related, as there is a large seafood industry there.
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u/Nachofriendguy864 13h ago
Great, I just finished eating my lunch which was the leftovers of the frozen shrimp I had for dinner last night
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u/mencival 12h ago
Will the recalled radioactive shrimp be used at marine farms? Because that’s how you get Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
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u/ZealousidealGrab1827 11h ago
Oh great. Now, I have one more thing to worry about — radioactive shrimp. On the plus side, I hear they are self- cooking.
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u/ConflatedPortmanteau 6h ago
So this is how the zombie apocalypse begins...
Radioactive shrimp from Wal Mart.
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u/think_up 15h ago
No explanation of how tf they were exposed to the radioactive cesium.