Seafood lovers in the U.S. are being warned about a recall over the risk of potentially radioactive shrimp — and no, it’s not a character in a new superhero movie.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday issued a warning about a frozen shrimp brand sold at some Walmart stores in the U.S. due to radioactive contamination in one shipment that was identified before it entered the country.
The FDA warning covers multiple lots of shrimp sold by distributors in the U.S.
However, authorities in Canada told Global News that there were no reports of the affected product being sold in Canada.
“The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) is aware of the public advisory published by the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advising the U.S. public to not eat, sell, or serve certain imported shrimp. The CFIA is not aware of any Canadian distribution of these recalled products,” a CFIA spokesperson told Global News in an emailed statement.
The U.S. notice pertains to certain frozen shrimp products sold by Indonesian company PT Bahari Makmur Sejati, sold in the U.S. under the label BMS Foods.
The affected product was sold at Walmart stores in 13 U.S. states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia.
The U.S. FDA discovered high levels of Caesium-137 — a radioactive isotope — in a single shipment of the shrimp that did not enter the U.S.
The notice said “exposure to low-level radiation” from the radioactive containment can cause “an elevated risk of cancer, resulting from damage to DNA within living cells of the body.”