Nevada Residents Beware, Your Shrimp May Be Radioactive

Caveat emptor is usually a label that expects you to check the quality of a product before you make a payment. Yet, if you live in Nevada and have been buying your shrimp from the Kroger shops between June and September, and lack a Geiger counter, well, tough luck to you.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just issued a warning to consumers who have bought shrimp that they may be radioactive. More than 85,000 bags of shrimp have already been recalled, but thousands have been sold out.

Radioactive Shrimp in Your Fridge

The warning concerns three types of shrimp sold at Kroger stores, which may contain traces of cesium-317, which is an element produced in nuclear fission. While the headline is anecdotal and amusing, cesium-317 is no laughing matter, and it is incompatible with life as we know it.

Interacting with cesium-317 could result in burns, radiation sickness, and an increased chance of a person developing cancer. This is not the first time shrimps have been labeled radioactive, with the FDA catching radioactive shrimps from Indonesia and initiating major recalls at Walmart.

The FDA is not certain how the contamination occurred, but suggested that the products “may have been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have become contaminated with cesium-137.”

The latest batch of products concerns the Aquastar brand that was sold in shops between June 12 and September 17 in Kroger stores.