Senator John Kennedy (R-La.) addressed the U.S. Senate to express concerns about the safety of imported seafood, specifically shrimp from foreign countries. He referenced recent findings by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that identified raw frozen shrimp from Indonesia being sold under Walmart’s Great Value label in several states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia.
Kennedy stated: “Mr. President, this is a photograph of the alien from the movie ‘Alien.’ This is what you could end up looking like if you eat some of the raw frozen shrimp being sent to the U.S. by other countries. Now, let me tell you what I am talking about.”
He explained that in late August the FDA discovered radioactive contamination in these shrimp products: “If you eat it, how could you end up looking like the alien in ‘Alien’? Because the shrimp was radioactive. I kid you not. It had a radioactive isotope in it called cesium-137. It will kill you. Even if it doesn’t turn you into the alien if you eat this stuff, I guarantee you will grow an extra ear. That was bad enough. Obviously, the FDA issued a recall.”
Kennedy also mentioned subsequent recalls involving thousands of packages of shrimp cocktail and frozen cooked shrimp sold at Walmart and Kroger stores across the country due to similar contamination.
He questioned how such incidents could occur: “How could this happen in America? This is unconscionable.” He attributed these problems to inadequate inspection procedures for imported seafood: “I will tell you how…that shrimp from other countries…is not being inspected. It is supposed to be…it is supposed to be inspected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric [Administration]—we call it NOAA…And yes they are inspecting some of it—about 1 percent; on a good day 2 percent.”
According to Kennedy’s remarks comparing international standards for seafood inspection practices with those in place domestically: “The United Kingdom inspects 50 percent of the farmed seafood coming into its nation. Even China does a better job than the United States of America.”
He described conditions under which some foreign shrimp are produced as unsanitary and criticized use of antibiotics and now radioactive substances: “This shrimp is grown in conditions that you can’t possibly imagine…They shoot the shrimp full of antibiotics…I confess I didn’t know they were shooting them full of this radioactive isotope…”
Kennedy concluded his comments by advocating for more thorough inspections by NOAA: “NOAA needs to do a better job of inspecting the shrimp that is sold from other countries that don’t abide by the same standards we do to consumers of the United States of America.”
