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Facts Matter
Report Uncovers Source of Radioactive Isotope-Tainted Shrimp at Walmart, and It’s Not What You Think
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Last month, we published an episode on this program detailing the aftermath of the Japanese government's decision to dump tons of nuclear radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean. This was something that the Japanese government claimed had to be done in order to alleviate the lack of storage at the Fukushima nuclear site, that same site that was rocked by an earthquake and tsunami back in the year 2011. This action taken by the Japanese to dump this nuclear wastewater into the ocean, and it was met, understandably with resistance from the neighboring countries, with some countries actually going so far as to ban fish imports from Japan entirely. Now, the main crux of the concern, it was an isotope of hydrogen called tritium. It's an isotope that the Japanese scientists were not able to remove from the wastewater. But at the same time, they claimed that they were able to dilute the wastewater enough such that the Pacific Ocean would not actually be contaminated. And as a result of their actions of dumping all this water into the ocean. Now, subsequent tests of the water, they actually did find that to be the case. And several countries, they wound up lifting their ban on Japanese fish products after those tests found that the water was safe. If you actually want a full recap of what happened there, I will link that earlier episode that we published last month. You'll be able to find it down in the description box below. However, the reason that I bring this episode up today is because the threat of nuclear waste tainted seafood, well, it's no longer something that only Japan's neighbors have to worry about. Case in point, right here in the US Since August of this year, you had the FDA issue no less than five separate warnings and recalls for shrimp contaminated with cesium 137. It's a radioactive isotope created during nuclear fission blasts. And finally, after many months of waiting, a new report, you can see it right up on your screen. It sheds light on how the shrimp sold right here in America and was actually contaminated with cesium 137. And spoiler alert, it actually had nothing to do with what took place in Japan. And so let's go through the details of it all together right after you take a super quick moment to smash those like and subscribe buttons so that this valuable information can reach ever more people via the YouTube algorithm. Now, to start with, the news cycle has been so fast that you might have already completely forgotten about it. But back in August of this year, the FDA issued their first warning to Americans to to not buy certain shrimp products from Walmart. Quote, the FDA told the US Public not to eat, sell or serve certain imported Walmart frozen shrimp produced by an Indonesian company because it may have been exposed to a radioactive material. They added that they are Investigating reports of cesium137 contamination in shipping containers as well as shrimp products that were processed by Indonesian based PT Bahari Mukmar Sajadi, also known as BMS Food. And just for your reference, the FDA made a point to mention that this radioactive shrimp, this first batch, it was sold at Walmart locations across 13 different states, including in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas as well as West Virginia. The FDA added that if you bought these products, you should throw them away and and definitely not eat them. And just for your convenience, if you happen to have bought any of the shrimp back in August from any of those Walmart locations and it happens to be sitting in your freezer right now, well up on your screen I will throw up the product codes for the affected items. You can pause the video screenshot this frame and then go back and make sure that none of your items in the fridge or the freezer are part of this recall batch. However, it is really worth noting that in the weeks following that initial recall, the the FDA stepped in about four more times to again and again recall more and more shrimp here in the US all for the exact same reason, cesium contamination. The recalls, they included different brands like Lauren's Wholesale Shrimp sold at Kroger Southwind Food Shrimp sold across many different stores, as well as Aquastar brand shrimp. And just for your convenience, I'll also throw a consolidated list of all these further recalls. It'll be down in the description box below so you can check it against what you have in the fridge to keep your family safe. Now the problem with all this shrimp is that it contains cesium 137, which is a radioactive isotope of the element cesium and it can be dangerous. QUOTE cesium137 is a byproduct of nuclear reactions, including nuclear bombs, testing, reactor operations and accidents. It's widespread around the world with trace amounts found in the environment, including soil, food and air. Elevated levels of the radioactive isotope can be present in high contamination areas, including Chernobyl, Ukraine and Fukushima, Japan, which each experienced a nuclear plant disaster. It was also released into the environment on a fairly large scale due to all those different nuclear tests in the Pacific Ocean conducted by the US as well as over in the Soviet Union. Now the obvious question here though is how did the shrimp processed over in Indonesia of all places come to be contaminated with cesium 137. Well, to start with, it all traces back to a single company over in Indonesia, the aforementioned BMS Foods, which is not well known in the broader world, but in the shrimp world, it's actually one of the largest processors. All of the affected shrimp share at least one thing in common. They were processed by an Indonesian firm known as Bahari Mukmar Sajari or BMS Foods. The company may not be well known to consumers, but from January to July it was responsible for about a third of American shrimp imports from Indonesia, which itself is the third largest exporter of shrimp to the US and the process by which this particular company shrimp wound up getting contaminated, it's not 100% clear, but according to the preliminary investigation, it appears that it has to do with a steel manufacturer in the general vicinity of this food processor, also in Indonesia. Quote over the past month, an investigation by Indonesia's nuclear agency has found evidence of widespread radioactive contamination in in the area where the shrimp was packaged, which is a region of the island of Java known as the Chikande Industrial Area. It's not totally clear, but preliminary evidence suggests it's because of industrial activity near food processing facilities rather than anything in the water or the soil. Officials from Indonesia's Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency have traced the source of contamination to a steel manufacturer in the Chikande Industrial area known as Peter Metal Technology, or pmt. Some of the highest levels of contamination detected in the area were reportedly found in the company's furnace, which is about 1.5 miles southwest of the BMS Foods facility where the shrimp was processed. Investigators think that radioactive dust was released into the environment after PMT inadvertently smelted scrap metal containing Cesium 137. To that end, you actually had a senior advisor to Indonesia's Ministry of Food Affairs. He gave a press conference where he simply said the following quote, because it's airborne, decontamination can be carried by wind. Now that still does beg the question of why exactly a steel manufacturer would have the remnants of a nuclear fission explosion. Now again, it's not exactly 100% determined to be the case. However, the working hypothesis right now is that since PMT Metals uses a lot of scrap metal as their raw material for the creation of steel, the they might have accidentally used some kind of a medical device that happened to contain cesium 137 and they used that as scrap metal. Now this might have been something like a cancer treating radiation therapy machine or a blood irradiator machine. Both of them are industrial grade medical devices that do happen to contain cesium 137. And of course, if that's really the case, if these items were used as scrap metal in the creation of steel, then very likely you had a large plume of that stuff go across the whole island. Now again, the Indonesian government is still investigating the origin of this contamination and this is just their working theory. But already a lot of concrete actions are being taken in terms of the Indonesian government. They're actually drafting new regulations on scrap metal in order to avoid this happening in the future. And then in terms of here in the US the FDA has already put BMS foods on what's known as an import red list, which effectively bans all of their shrimp products from actually being able to reach the US until they can show that the problem has been resolved. Also, I'll mention that about a month after they put BMS foods on the red list, the FDA also did the same thing to another company called Natural Java Spice, which exports cloves from the island and they were also found to have been contaminated with cesium 137. Also, just earlier this month, the FDA released a follow up announcement that saying that quote, starting October 31st, it will require import certification for all shrimp and spices from the island of Java as well as from Lampung province in Sumatra, northwest of the Chikande industrial area. Notably, this is the first time that the agency has exercised this authority. The move extends similar restrictions to all regional exporters who will be required to obtain shipment by shipment certification from the Indonesian government attesting that their products are free from radioactive contamination in in order to be accepted at US Ports. Also on top of these tightened import controls, the U.S. department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration, they sent over emergency teams over to US Ports in order to evaluate the extent of cesium contamination at the actual ports in the US where the items were received. And so that's the current state of the situation. Now in terms of you, the shrimp and clove eating American consumer, there are two things worth mentioning. First, first of all, the FDA claims that the amount of cesium 137 that was inside of the affected shrimp and cloves that did enter the US market, it's small enough to not actually cause harm to the human body if ingested. However, be that as it may, I'm still gonna throw a comprehensive up to date list of all the effective products and the effective brands. It'll be down in the description box below. There's only about 10 brands in total that are affected. And I would highly recommend that you go through them and consider throwing out anything that you have in your freezer from those brands. Because regardless of how safe it may be, when it comes to nuclear explosion byproducts, it's probably better to be extremely safe than sorry. And so again, that list will be down there in the description box below. You can check it and check it against what you have in the freezer. Again, I'm not a doctor, I'm not a scientist, but maybe what you spend 20 bucks on that shrimp, throw it out if it's on the list. Again, that link will be down there in the description box. And then, until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times. Stay informed. Most importantly, stay free.