Peppered with Recalls

Posted on Oct 21, 2025 by

My kids and I love to make bang bang shrimp in the air fryer. We coat the shrimp with panko crumbs and various spices, including paprika, cayenne pepper, and garlic and onion powder.

It’s harder to make the shrimp, though, since U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials detected cesium 137 in shipping containers of the shellfish sent by PT Bahari Makmur Sejati to several U.S. ports. Last week, I wrote about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration subsequently testing samples and confirmed the presence of cesium 137 in one sample of breaded shrimp.

PT Bahari Makmur Sejati shipped about 84 million pounds of shrimp to U.S. ports this year, which is about 6% of foreign shrimp imported here. After discovering the contamination, hundreds of thousands of packages of imported frozen shrimp sold at Walmart, Kroger and other grocery stores across the 31 states in the country have been recalled.

But, it will be even trickier to make bang bang shrimp now that the FDA has also blocked the import of all spices from PT Natural Java Spice of Indonesia after federal inspectors detected cesium 137 in a shipment of cloves sent to a port in Los Angeles/Long Beach, California.

Records show the company sent about 440,000 pounds of cloves to the U.S. this year. Thankfully, the FDA verified that none of the spices that triggered alerts or tested positive has been released for sale in the U.S. and no illnesses have been reported. PT Natural Java Spice joins PT Bahari Makmur Sejati on Import Alert #99-51 for chemical contamination, effectively blocking their products from entering markets in the U.S.

Again, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention identifies Cesium-137 as a radioactive isotope created as a byproduct of nuclear reactions, including nuclear bombs, testing, reactor operations and accidents. It is also used in small amounts for calibration of radiation-detection equipment. In larger amounts, it can be used in medical radiation therapy devices for treating cancer, medical sterilization, industrial gauges that detect the flow of liquid through pipes and other industrial devices. It is widespread around the world, with trace amounts found in the environment, including soil, food and air.

The FDA detected Cesium 137 at 732.43 Bq/kg in one sample of cloves from PT Natural Java Spice, which is well below the agency’s Derived Intervention Level of 1,200 Bq/kg. Although the risk appears to be small, the FDA feels it is significant enough to warrant preventive action, as exposure to low levels of cesium 137 over time could pose a “potential health concern,” including burns, radiation sickness, increasing the risk of certain cancers, and even death.

At this point, officials are unable to determine if there is a common source of contamination for the shrimp and the spices. The two processing facilities are about 500 miles apart in Indonesia. The International Atomic Energy Agency posits that contaminated scrap metal or melted metal at an industrial site near the shrimp processing plant in Indonesia may be the source of the radioactive material. Nuclear regulators in Indonesia have detected the radioactive isotope at the site outside Jakarta.

The FDA will maintain import alerts on all spice and shrimp products from the identified companies until they provide adequate evidence of resolved contamination issues. The agency plans enhanced screening of all products from Indonesia and may add additional companies to import restrictions based on ongoing investigations.

Cloves are widely used in holiday dishes and beverages, such as glazed ham, gingerbread, pumpkin pie and hot toddies. So, officials are concerned that the spice blockade couldn’t come at a worse thyme.



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Reg P. Wydeven

Elder Law and Estate Planning Attorney at McCarty Law LLP
Hoping to follow in his father’s footsteps from a young age, Reg’s practice primarily consists of advising individuals on estate planning, estate settlement and elder law matters. As Reg represents clients in matters like guardianship proceedings and long-term care admissions, he feels grateful to be able to offer families thorough legal help in their time of need.
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