August 21, 2025
JAKARTA – The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a warning about certain raw frozen shrimp products imported from an Indonesian firm over possible radioactive contamination.
While the investigation is still ongoing, the FDA on Tuesday advised consumers and retailers to “not eat, sell or serve” frozen shrimp imported from PT Bahari Makmur Sejati, which operates as BMS Foods, following the initial detection of the radioactive isotope Cesium-137 (Cs-137) by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
The CBP alerted the FDA after detecting Cs-137 in shipping containers carrying frozen shrimp processed by BMS Foods at four US ports: Los Angeles, Houston, Savannah and Miami.
“In conjunction with other information, FDA determined that product from PT Bahari Makmur Sejati violates the Federal Food, Drug, & Cosmetic Act in that it appears to have been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby it may have become contaminated with Cs-137 and may pose a safety concern,” the alert reads.
The products were sold at Walmart stores under the brand name Great Value. The FDA said Walmart had received the implicated raw frozen shrimp after the date of the first detection, but those shipments did not trigger contamination alerts.
The agency has recommended Walmart recall the products. It has also placed BMS Foods on a new import alert for chemical contamination, halting its shipments to the US until the company resolves potential issues and violations.
Cs-137 is a man-made radioactive isotope produced through nuclear reactions. Traces of the isotope can be found worldwide in soil, food and air. All containers and products testing positive for Cs-137 have been denied entry into the US, according to the FDA.
The FDA stated it would continue to coordinate with the CBP to prevent contaminated products from reaching consumers and is working with Indonesian seafood regulatory authorities to investigate the root cause of the contamination.
Indonesia’s Trade Minister Budi Santoso stated that the issue is being investigated by the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and the Orderly Business Supervision Center (BPTN) in coordination with Washington.
“We are confident that fishery products, including shrimp, produced and exported by Indonesian firms have implemented food safety and sustainability measures,” he told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Read also: Govt to defend local shrimp exporters against US anti-dumping measures
The US is a key market for Indonesia’s fishery products, with its trade surplus in the sector rising 9.1 percent in 2024 from the previous year. Indonesia exported US$1.9 billion worth of fishery products to the US last year, accounting for 32 percent of its total fishery exports, according to the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry.
The ministry has previously recorded a rising trend in US demand for fishery products, mainly shrimp, with consumption estimated at more than 500,000 tonnes per year. The US was also the top destination for shrimp exports, accounting for 63 percent of Indonesia’s total shrimp exports in 2024.
Read also: Shrimp exporters face cancellations from US buyers, association says
Meanwhile, shrimp exporters in Indonesia have faced mounting cancellations from US buyers following President Donald Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs in April. Both buyers and exporters were awaiting the outcome of negotiations between the Indonesian government and the Trump administration at that time.
The US imposed a 10 percent baseline tariff on imports from all countries starting April 5. On April 2, it announced a second round of “reciprocal” tariffs targeting nations with large US trade deficits, slapping Indonesia with a 32 percent tariff.
However, the implementation was later postponed to allow for negotiations, which eventually resulted in a trade deal in July that lowered the reciprocal tariffs for Indonesian goods imported into the US to 19 percent.