Local shrimpers support import limitations

John DeSantis, The Courier

11/27/10:

HOUMA — Local shrimp fishermen are hoping a Louisiana senator’s proposed amendment to federal food-safety legislation will tighten restrictions on importers of shrimp from other nations that use antibiotics and other chemicals banned or regulated in the U.S.

The FDA Safe Food Modernization Act, by Sen. Richard Durbin D-Ill., would expand the authority of the secretary of health and human services to inspect records of foods containing such additives.

The amendment, in the final stages of preparation by Sen. Mary Landrieu D-La., would specifically target antibiotics and other chemicals such as those used in the raising of shrimp in overseas aquaculture operations.

Importers say the shrimp that comes in from Asia and other global regions is safe and that criticism of trace amounts of some antibiotics is protectionist-driven.

But domestic shrimpers, who do not operate ponds and shrimp-growing operations but catch them in open waters, say the risks are understated.

“The Food and Drug Administration currently tests less than 2 percent of seafood imported to the United States despite repeated findings by both federal and state officials of contaminated farm-raised shrimp imports,” reads a statement issued by Deborah Long, spokeswoman for the Southern Shrimp Alliance.

The federation of domestic-shrimping interests includes processors and fishermen from eight states, including Louisiana.

For years the group and its supporters have complained that little or nothing is done about shrimp containing trace amounts of chloramphenicol and other drugs being dumped into the U.S., which has less-stringent testing procedures than the European Union and other overseas government entities.

If enacted with Landrieu’s amendment, the legislation would require the FDA to increase its testing of imported shrimp from less than 2 percent to 20 percent by 2015, impose tough new registration and enforcement requirements and penalties for violations and tighten restrictions on the importation of any food produced with child or forced labor.

Fisherman James Blanchard of Chauvin, a Louisiana representative on the Souther Shrimp Alliance’s board, said the Landrieu’s amendment is “a step in the right direction.”

“It’s been long overdue for the FDA to step up and do more testing,” said Blanchard, whose fishing was interrupted this year by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. After months of cleaning up oil in the Gulf of Mexico, Blanchard is preparing to take his trawler, the Waymaker, out shrimping today.

“Whatever is put in those shrimp has to be tested, for the safety of the consumer. It’s also a good thing for the industry. Our wild-caught shrimp doesn’t have those antibiotics and the chemicals in them. Hopefully, it will make some progress toward the U.S. not being a dumping ground.”

The Southern Shrimp Alliance’s Executive Director, John Williams, said Landrieu’s amendment is something he considers “bold leadership.”

“We have documented repeatedly that unscrupulous companies use the same circumvention schemes such as transshipment and mislabeling to avoid both U.S. food-safety laws and fair-trade laws,” Williams said. “Bad actors engaging in transshipment are putting U.S. consumers at risk and destroying the family-run shrimping businesses that support hundreds of coastal communities in eight states. The Southern Shrimp Alliance is committed to ending circumvention of U.S. food-safety and trade laws.”

The U.S. is a large target for allegedly illegal shrimp “because of its poor food-safety testing and comparatively forgiving penalties for violations,” the alliance’s statement reads.

For example, the group notes. Japan requires testing of all Vietnamese shrimp for fungicides, and the European Union has increased testing of Indian and Bangladeshi shrimp based on repeated findings of banned antibiotics.

“The FDA,” according to the alliance, “lacks equivalent increased scrutiny of imports from these countries despite similar findings of contamination.”