The Good News About Those “Radioactive Shrimp”
Earlier this week, the Food and Drug Administration advised the public not to eat certain Great Value–brand raw frozen shrimp products for a rather unusual reason. Not because of contamination by bacteria like Salmonella, Listeria, or E. coli, which were responsible for more than a third of food recalls last year—but due to the shellfish containing Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope. Yes, radioactive.
U.S. authorities detected the substance in shipping containers coming from Indonesia at four ports of entry (Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, and Savannah). Further testing revealed a small amount of the Cesium-137, or Cs-137, actually in one sample of breaded shrimp (at which port, they didn’t say). The discovery was enough for the FDA to recommend that Walmart stores stop selling specific Gre...