Food and Drug Administration said on Tuesday that the public should avoid eating certain frozen shrimp sold at Walmart due to fear that seafood can be contaminated by radioactive materials.
Health managers said in a press release that he was investigating in reports on contamination by CESIUM-137 (CS-137) in shipping containers and frozen shrimp products treated with an Indonesian company, Pt. Bahari Makmur Sejati d’Indonesia, also known as BMS Food.
Some of the frozen shrimp products raws by an Indonesian company are sold in Walmart stores in 13 states, notably in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginie-Occidental, according to FDA.
Among the products includes the “frozen shrimps of the Great Value de Walmart brand,” said the health agency.
“If you recently bought raw frozen shrimps from Walmart that corresponds to this description, throw it away,” said the FDA. “Do not eat or serve this product.”
Health officials advised people to speak to their health care providers if they think they have been exposed to high levels of the contaminant.
Pt. Bahari Makmur Sejati and Walmart did not immediately return to requests for comments.
CS-137 is the radioactive form of cesium, “a soft, flexible and silver-white metal which becomes liquid near the room temperature” used for devices and medical gauges, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Repeated exposure to low doses of CS-137 can increase the risk of cancer, “resulting from DNA damage in living cells in the body,” said health officials in their press release.
The FDA said that customs and the protection of American border had alerted the health agency to detect CS-137 in expedition containers in Los Angeles, Houston, Miami and Savannah, in Georgia. He said all the containers and products that have tested positive for CS-137 have been denied entry into the country.
Health managers also warned that he had not detected CS-137 in a product higher than current derivative intervention levels for CS-137, 1200 Bq / kg.
However, the FDA said that “the level detected in the breaded shrimp sample could represent a potential health problem” if it is combined with environmental radiation or medical procedures.
