Radioactive shrimp scare sparks Walmart recall
Do you buy raw frozen shrimp at Walmart? If so, the Food and Drug Administration is recommending you throw away packages of the retailer’s Great Value brand that were purchased in 13 states because of possible contamination with a radioactive isotope.
The FDA issued an alert Tuesday after the U.S. Customs & Border Protection detected Celsium-137, or Cs-137, in shipping containers at U.S. ports in Los Angeles, Houston, Savannah, and Miami. This radioactive isotope was detected in five different shrimp products from an Indonesian supplier that does business as BMS Foods—though the FDA said no affected shrimp entered the U.S. food supply.
However, because the FDA couldn’t rule out possible contamination, it is cautioning that consumers shouldn’t eat or serve Great Value raw frozen shrimp sold at Walmart stores in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia. The federal agency has also recommended that Walmart recall its product.
The product in question is Great Value brand frozen raw white Vannamei shrimp sold in 2-pound bags, with a best-by date of March 15, 2027. Full details about the affected lot numbers can be found on the FDA’s press release.
“If you have recently purchased raw frozen shrimp from Walmart that matches this description, throw it away,” the FDA said in the press release. “Do not eat or serve this product.”
Safety Alerts
Americans are routinely exposed to some trace amounts Cs-137 because of its presence in the environment from weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). But the danger lies in exposure to large, concentrated amounts which can cause burns, acute radiation sickness, death, and an increased risk of cancer, according to the CDC.
The FDA’s investigation is ongoing, including working with Indonesian seafood regulatory authorities to determine the root cause of the contamination.
Dr. Marty Makary, commissioner of the FDA, has not commented about the shrimp alert, though he did re-share a post on Tuesday on the X platform about the “Pete & Bobby Challenge,” an event hosted by Secretaries of Defense and Health Pete Hegseth and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to encourage Americans to get fit again.
The FDA has issued nine safety alerts this year related to food and dietary supplement products.
