Another seafood company is voluntarily recalling a number of its frozen shrimp products after a potential radioactive contamination, the Food and Drug Administration said in a Thursday release.
Southwind Foods, a California company, is recalling a “limited quantity” of its frozen shrimp after it was possibly exposed to Cesium-137 (Cs-137), “a soft, flexible, silvery-white metal that becomes liquid near room temperature” used for medical devices and gauges, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
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.
The agency did not say which specific retailers carried the frozen shrimp or how the Southwinds Foods shrimp were exposed to the radioactive material.
Brands included in the recall are: Sand Bar, Best Yet, Arctic Shores Seafood Company, Great American Seafood Imports Co., and First Street.
The move comes just days after a similar frozen shrimp recall from the Indonesian food company, PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati of Indonesia, also known as BMS Food, and sold at Walmarts across the U.S. The FDA said it is actively investigating reports of radioactive exposure in the shrimp’s shipping containers.
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.
Repeated low-dose exposure to Cs-137 can result in “an elevated risk of cancer, resulting from damage to DNA within living cells of the body,” the FDA said. No illnesses have yet been reported.
