Health regulators are urgently warning Americans to check their freezers after a radioactive substance was found in a popular bag of shrimp sold at Walmart.
The FDA has told the public to avoid Great Value raw frozen shrimp due to contamination with Cesium-137, a radioactive isotope.
Customs and Border Protection agents, who detected the radioactive isotope Cesium-137, or Cs-137, in shipping containers at four major US ports, sounded the alarm to the FDA.
The FDA tested the contents of the shipping containers and confirmed on Tuesday that the shrimp, which came from a company in Indonesia called BMS Foods, was contaminated.
CBP and the FDA are now working with Indonesian seafood regulators to pinpoint the precise source of the contamination.
According to the agency, evidence suggests the shrimp was processed or stored in unsanitary conditions that likely led to the radioactive contamination, making it unsafe for people to eat.
The risk of contamination from passing a contaminated shipping container is low, but that risk compounds if a person were to eat radioactive shrimp.
Once inside your body, Cs-137 acts as a long-term, internal source of radiation that significantly increases cancer risk.
The Do Not Eat warning is issued out of an abundance of caution, the FDA said, adding that testing to date has not confirmed the presence of contamination in any product currently being sold in stores.
