ABC had sent 30 samples of "foreign" shrimp to the Institute of Environmental and Human Health food lab at Texas Tech University and tested for potentially dangerous antibiotics. Shrimp in three of the 30 samples were found to contain banned antibiotics. But that's just 10%.
"The shrimp-farming industry recognizes the use of antibiotics in food production should be avoided due to concerns about food safety and the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria," GAA President George Chamberlain said. "The technology for disease management in shrimp farming has made transformative advances."
Great progress has been made to eliminate antibiotics, the GAA said, and shrimp can now be obtained from certified sources that provide the food safety assurance that consumers demand. Shrimp imports to the United States are subject to multiple controls.
The US Food and Drug Administration routinely tests imported seafood. Exporting countries test and screen shrimp for banned antibiotics and chemicals before it leaves their borders, and countries like China and Thailand also monitor their shrimp farms directly.
For added assurance, the GAA noted, seafood buyers typically require their suppliers to test for illegal substances -- a requirement that is now mandatory for certification programs such as Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), which the GAA developed specifically to address concerns such as antibiotics. BAP-certified farms produce 192,350 tons (174,500 metric tons) of shrimp annually. Most of this volume is sent to the United States, where it represents over a quarter of the shrimp imported to the U.S.
One of the authorities ABC relied on was Brian Landry, who runs a seafood restaurant in New Orleans and uses only wild shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico. "A shrimp that's farm-raised in a foreign country to produce the yield they need and the quantity they need, they'll use any means necessary that we don't use here," Landry said. And Avila himself claimed that some shrimp farms "routinely pour antibiotics into their pens," and advised that if consumers want to avoid antibiotics they should insist on domestic wild-caught shrimp.
"The shrimp-farming industry recognizes the use of antibiotics in food production should be avoided due to concerns about food safety and the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria," GAA President George Chamberlain countered. "The technology for disease management in shrimp farming has made transformative advances." Pathogens are increasingly managed through the use of specific pathogen-free broodstock and breeding for genetic resistance to disease. At farms, proper pond preparation, disinfection of incoming water and the application of beneficial bacteria to displace pathogens help limit diseases.
