The potentially hot shrimp was available from July 17 to August 8, 2025, at dozens of stores. Image by Monika Grabkowska.

In a story unprecedented in my memory, multiple cargo containers carrying shrimp from Indonesia to U.S. grocers were found contaminated with dangerously radioactive cesium-137 (Cs-137).

None of the dozens of reports I reviewed explained how the cancer-causing isotope Cs-137⸺ a human-made radionuclide only produced inside nuclear reactors ⸺ spread to multiple cargo containers and some frozen shrimp.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) alerted the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on August 19 about the contamination of the containers and shrimp products processed in Indonesia. The FDA reported that tainted containers and shrimp were found at the U.S. ports of Los Angeles, Houston, Miami, and Savannah (Georgia), and delivered to Walmart and Kroger stores.

The cesium scare was then expanded broadly. The FDA’s August 19 Import Alert and recall recommendation focused on frozen raw shrimp, but the agency later added cocktail shrimp and cooked medium peeled tail-off shrimp to its list. Initially applied to 13 states, the FDA later expanded its recall recommendation to 29 states.

The Wall St. Journal reported August 29 that the recall included 26,460 packages of Great Value cocktail shrimp sold at Walmart stores between July 28 and August 16, and 18,000 bags of Kroger’s Mercado frozen cooked shrimp.

California-based Southwind Foods recalled frozen shrimp bagged and sold under the brands Sand Bar, Arctic Shores, Best Yet, Great American Seafood Imports, and First Street, or Walmart’s Great Value brand.

Tens of thousands of packages of imported shrimp sold at Mariano’s were also recalled. Other affected stores include AquaStar, Baker’s, Gerbes, Jay C, Metro Market, Pay Less Supermarkets, Pick ‘n Save and Beaver Street Fisheries, according to the FDA, which told consumers to dispose of shrimp purchased at specific times in July and August. “If you have........

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