(United States, 28th) U.S. federal regulatory agencies have detected suspected radioactive contaminants in a second batch of Indonesian exports to the U.S. After Indonesian company PT Bahari Makmuri Sejati’s frozen raw shrimp exported to the U.S. in August tested positive for Cesium-137, leading to recalls at supermarkets such as Walmart, Indonesian spice company PT Natural Java Spice’s shipment of cloves to California was also found to contain Cesium-137. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last week banned all spice imports from this company.
This Indonesian spice company has exported 440,000 pounds (about 200,000 kilograms) of cloves to the U.S. this year, while the shrimp company involved in the August incident has shipped 84 million pounds (about 38 million kilograms) of frozen shrimp to U.S. ports this year.
The FDA stated that hundreds of thousands of packages of frozen shrimp have already been recalled across the United States, and currently, there should be no affected products in circulation on the market. It is understood that the detected levels of Cesium-137 in Indonesian shrimp and cloves are far below the threshold requiring medical intervention, but long-term exposure to Cesium-137 may increase cancer risk.
Cesium-137 is a radioactive isotope produced as a by-product of nuclear reactions—including in the production of nuclear bombs, nuclear testing, and reactor operations—but trace amounts can also be detected in the soil, food, and air.
The factories of the Indonesian frozen shrimp and spice producers are about 800 kilometers apart, and it is currently unclear whether they have been affected by the same source of contamination.
The International Atomic Energy Agency stated that the Indonesian frozen shrimp processing plant may have been affected by scrap metal from a nearby industrial area.
Nuclear medicine expert Bigarski from Georgia Institute of Technology stated that such contamination could come from old medical devices containing Cesium-137 being recycled. He said contaminated shipping containers or transportation methods—such as trucks, ships, or shared materials—could also be the source of the contamination.
This Indonesian spice company has exported 440,000 pounds (about 200,000 kilograms) of cloves to the U.S. this year, while the shrimp company involved in the August incident has shipped 84 million pounds (about 38 million kilograms) of frozen shrimp to U.S. ports this year.
The FDA stated that hundreds of thousands of packages of frozen shrimp have already been recalled across the United States, and currently, there should be no affected products in circulation on the market. It is understood that the detected levels of Cesium-137 in Indonesian shrimp and cloves are far below the threshold requiring medical intervention, but long-term exposure to Cesium-137 may increase cancer risk.
Cesium-137 is a radioactive isotope produced as a by-product of nuclear reactions—including in the production of nuclear bombs, nuclear testing, and reactor operations—but trace amounts can also be detected in the soil, food, and air.
The factories of the Indonesian frozen shrimp and spice producers are about 800 kilometers apart, and it is currently unclear whether they have been affected by the same source of contamination.
The International Atomic Energy Agency stated that the Indonesian frozen shrimp processing plant may have been affected by scrap metal from a nearby industrial area.
Nuclear medicine expert Bigarski from Georgia Institute of Technology stated that such contamination could come from old medical devices containing Cesium-137 being recycled. He said contaminated shipping containers or transportation methods—such as trucks, ships, or shared materials—could also be the source of the contamination.