WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 (UPI) -- Most of the shrimp eaten in the United States is raised in polluted ponds and may contain U.S.-banned chemicals according to a new report by Public Citizen.
Shrimp is the top seafood choice in the United States, and nearly 90 percent of it is imported. About 80 percent of imported shrimp from foreign markets is farm-raised. Shrimp aquaculture uses a factory-farming model that douses shrimp with pesticides, antibiotics and other chemicals.
Residues of antibiotics banned in the United States have been detected in farmed shrimp and other seafood shipped from Asia to the United States and Europe says the report Chemical Cocktail: The Health Impacts of Eating Farm-Raised Shrimp. Only 1 to 2 percent of seafood is inspected at the border.
In spring 2005, a mandatory country-of-origin label for seafood will take effect. The labels will tell grocery store shoppers where shrimp comes from and whether it is farm-raised or wild-caught. Washington-based Public Citizen suggests that consumers also ask restaurants where they buy their shrimp.
