On May 4, 2015, the USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reported that it rejected 51 shipments [entry lines] of shrimp in April 2015 because they were contaminated with banned antibiotics. These data continue to show an unprecedented initiative by the agency to address the continued use of antibiotics by shrimp farmers in Asia.

Through the first four months of this year, FDA has now refused a total of 191 shipments of shrimp products because of banned antibiotics. In 2015, the agency refused an average of 48 shrimp shipments every month for antibiotics, an amount in excess of the annual total of entry lines refused for the same reasons in each of the five years between 2002 and 2006. The previous single annual high for shrimp entry lines refused for reasons related to banned antibiotics occurred last year at 208. This record high may be surpassed in May 2015.

In April 2015, shrimp shipments from four different countries—Malaysia, India, Vietnam, and China—were refused for reasons related to veterinary drug residues. These refusals involved ten different companies in those four countries, with refusals occurring at ports throughout the United States

[Source: Shrimp News International. Read article]