Radioactive shrimp recalled in several states as FDA issue cancer warning

Various food titans have been named in a mass US frozen shrimp recall, as leading health officials discovered they’d potentially been contaminated with a radioactive isotope of caesium that can cause cancer.

Southwind Foods, a California company, is just one business to announce a ‘limited quantity’ recall of its frozen prawns after discovering they may have been exposed to Caesium-137 (Cs-137), a ‘soft, flexible, silvery-white metal that becomes liquid near room temperature’, as per the Environmental Protection Agency.

The contaminated crustaceans were reportedly distributed across various US states between July 17 to August 8, the US Food and Drug Administration said.

States where the spiked food was sent for sale include Alabama, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.

While the agency has not said which specific retailers carried the frozen shrimp or how they were exposed to the radioactive material, they have listed other brands involved in the recall.

Anyone who bought shrimp during the listed period is advised to dispose of it (Getty Stock Image)

These are: Sand Bar, Best Yet, Arctic Shores Seafood Company, Great American Seafood Imports Co., and First Street.

If you have bought any of these brands’ shrimp bags within the contamination timeframe, then it’s advised that you dispose of them immediately.

Contaminated shrimp recalls had already begun in the US

This latest round of recalls comes after the FDA warned frozen raw prawns imported from PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati, an Indonesian-based company, had also potentially come into contact with Cs-137 in a shipping container.

The agency claimed that the shipment, destined for Los Angeles, Houston, Savannah, and Miami, was blocked from entering US commerce. This is despite detected levels not being deemed high enough to cause immediate harm.

The FDA estimated that the level of radioactive Cs-137 in the detained shipment was roughly 68 Bq/kg, as per Interesting Engineering.

No illness related to eating spiked prawns have been reported (Getty Stock Image)

However, 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,’ according to officials.

No illnesses have been linked to the crustaceans, yet, but consumers are being asked to remain vigilant.

Speaking about the ongoing threat, Suresh Pillai, a microbiologist involved in food safety research and director of the National Centre for Electron Beam Research at Texas A&M University, told the Slate: “This is very, very unique, in my initial reading of the situation.

“This is not normal,” adding that the phrase ‘shrimp tainted with a material that is radioactive’ is a more accurate description than ‘radioactive shrimp’.

What is Cs-137 used in?

Exposure to the chemical in large doses could cause cancer (Getty Stock Image)

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said that Cs-137 is used in large amounts for: medical radiation therapy devices for treating cancer, medical sterilisation and industrial gauges that detect the flow of liquid through pipes.

The organisation reported that people are exposed to it every day due to weapons testing in the 1950s and 1960s.

If you are exposed to a large amount through ingestion or inhalation, you may suffer from burns, acute radiation sickness, and even death.