Skip to content
buying seafood logo

Buying Seafood

Reviews of Fish, Shellfish, and Seafood

  • About Us: Buying Seafood
  • Get in Touch With Buying Seafood
  • From Head to Tale
  • Privacy Policy
  • Home
shrimp

How Safe Is Imported Shrimp? You Don’t Wanna Know!

Posted on 03/21/201709/28/2023 By buyingseafood
Seafood Sources

Editor’s Note: Sadly my friend Jim passed away a month after this posting. This survivor of the Murmansk Run, investment banker, and 3rd Order Franciscan, taught me so much more than just farmed Asian shrimp. Fair winds my friend…my hero.

My good friend, a 93-year-old war hero has not eaten a shrimp since the 1940’s. He tells me tales of his days as an officer in the Merchant Marines during and after World War II. Jim remembers the shrimp farms of the Ganges delta and in Southeast Asia, literally swimming (and thriving) in raw sewage. He is so averse to shrimp that I don’t think he would even eat our local shrimp…if we were still allowed to catch them.

Now, I’m not in the habit of questioning a guy who was literally blown up on two occasions during the War. The thought of imported farmed shrimp does gross me out a bit, but that has never really stopped me from eating imported or farmed shrimp. I’ll gladly eat anything someone prepares with imported shrimp, but I rarely order a shrimp dish in a restaurant.

As much as I like wild shrimp, I don’t buy it all that much at the fish market either. But shrimp is crazy popular in the US and worldwide, and to meet that demand, 90% of shrimp consumed in the US is imported.

Take a Look at this Report by Al-Jazeera on Shrimp Farming

So what could you be eating? Hard to say since most of this supply does not get inspected. But what is found during inspection is scary. This investigation by Al-Jazeera English sheds some light on imported shrimp, and also shows one domestic solution to the problem.

Buy Domestic

Among fishermen and fishing families, aquaculture can sometimes be seen as a threat, both economically and ecologically. But aquaculture does not have to be done with heavy antibiotics and lots of wastewater. If we support (with our wallets) both domestic wild caught shrimp and modern domestic shrimp farms, combined with protection efforts to preserve shrimping communities, we can take a huge dent out of that 90% of imports. The shrimpers and farmers thrive and we all benefit with tastier and safer shrimp.

facebookShare on Facebook
TwitterTweet
FollowFollow us
PinterestSave
Tags: al-jazeera english farm-raised imported seafood prawn shrimp

Post navigation

❮ Previous Post: What Makes Sustainable Seafood Sustainable?
Next Post: Here Is More Info On Imported Farmed Shrimp ❯

You may also like

shrimp
Seafood Industry News
Imported Shrimp Found With Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria
04/04/2019
Brown Sugar Faroe Island Salmon close up
Species Spotlight
Species Spotlight On Atlantic Salmon
12/12/2016
shrimp farm Vietnam
Seafood Sources
Here Is More Info On Imported Farmed Shrimp
04/03/2017
Follow by Email
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Pinterest
Pinterest
fb-share-icon
Instagram
Buying Seafood in Your Inbox:
  • Choosing Seafood
  • Fried Seafood Showdown
  • Seafood Industry News
  • Seafood Recipes
  • Seafood Sources
  • Species Spotlight
  • Tinned Fish

Affiliate Disclosure
This site uses affiliate links. Please read our Privacy Policy for more information.

Follow me on Perlu

Copyright © 2023 Buying Seafood.

Theme: Oceanly News by ScriptsTown