Shrimp Recall Lawsuit | 2026 Latest Updates

Frozen shrimp imported from Indonesia’s PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati, sold under many U.S. brands, has faced a rolling series of voluntary recalls since August 2025 after regulators found possible Cesium-137 contamination in shipping containers and one tested shipment. Six firms – Southwind Foods, Beaver Street Fisheries, AquaStar, Sea Port Products, Direct Source Seafood and Lawrence Wholesale – have recalled bagged shrimp sold at Walmart, Kroger and other stores nationwide. Anyone with matching shrimp should not eat it. The FDA’s investigation into the contamination is ongoing, and no shrimp that tested positive has entered U.S. commerce. Throw affected shrimp away or return it for a refund. Separate, older recalls for Salmonella and Listeria are unrelated.

Latest Shrimp Recall Updates

December 19, 2025: Direct Source Seafood Recalls Frozen Shrimp

Direct Source Seafood LLC of Bellevue, Washington recalled about 83,800 bags of frozen raw shrimp sold under the Market 32 brand in the Northeast and the Waterfront Bistro brand across ten more states [1]. The shrimp came from PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati (BMS Foods) of Indonesia, the supplier behind every recall the FDA has linked to this event. No shrimp has tested positive, and no illnesses have been reported.

November 7, 2025: Southwind Foods Dropped from the Shrimp Lawsuit

Southwind Foods, LLC was voluntarily dismissed as a defendant in the lawsuit over the shrimp recalls, under a notice the plaintiff filed with the federal court on November 7, 2025 [2]. The case continues against Beaver Street Fisheries, LLC and Walmart Inc., the two defendants the court summoned in September. The recalls themselves remain a separate FDA matter, unaffected by how the lawsuit proceeds in court.

October 17, 2025: AquaStar Expands Its Shrimp Recall Again

AquaStar (USA) Corp widened its recall to more frozen raw shrimp sold under the AquaStar, Best Yet, Waterfront Bistro and Publix brands, according to the FDA’s own recall roundup table [3]. This was AquaStar’s fourth expansion since late August, following its cocktail shrimp, Kroger Mercado cooked shrimp and Kroger Colossal EZ Peel actions. It shows how many of the company’s shrimp lines drew supply from the same Indonesian shipments.

September 30, 2025: Sea Port Products Corp Recalls Jumbo Shrimp

Sea Port Products Corp, a Kirkland, Washington seafood distributor, recalled its jumbo, 16/20-count white shrimp, sold frozen and easy-peel, the same FDA recall roundup table shows. It was the first firm outside the earlier group of five to join the recall, showing the Indonesian supplier’s shrimp had reached still more U.S. distributors by late September, three months after the FDA’s initial advisory.

September 25, 2025: Consumer Files Suit over the Radioactive Shrimp

Derrick Young sued Southwind Foods, Beaver Street Fisheries and Walmart in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, case No. 5:25-cv-02538, three days after AquaStar’s largest single recall expansion. The court’s docket lists the claim as a fraud matter rather than a personal-injury case, seeking damages tied to the value of the recalled shrimp itself. The court issued summons to all three named defendants on September 28, 2025.

September 23, 2025: Southwind Widens Its Recall as Lawrence Wholesale Joins

Southwind Foods expanded its recall again to cover more of the same bagged frozen shrimp, distributed between June 24 and September 16, 2025, to retailers and wholesalers in 34 states. Lawrence Wholesale, LLC separately recalled Kroger-brand bagged shrimp and shrimp cocktail sold at Kroger stores in 31 states [4]. Both actions trace to the same Indonesian shipments the FDA had already flagged that August.

September 19, 2025: AquaStar’s Largest Single Expansion

AquaStar expanded its recall to about 49,920 bags of Kroger Raw Colossal EZ Peel Shrimp and about 17,264 bags of its own Raw Peeled Tail-on Shrimp Skewers, plus the Kroger Mercado Cooked Shrimp bags recalled August 27. The affected bags were sold at Kroger-family grocery chains – including Fred Meyer, Ralphs, Smith’s and QFC – across 31 states, between June 12 and September 17, 2025, before AquaStar’s next expansion in October.

August 29, 2025: Southwind Foods Expands Its Recall a Second Time

Southwind Foods expanded its recall a second time, covering additional lots of the same five house brands it named on August 21, distributed between mid-July and early August to nine states. The nine states were Alabama, Arizona, California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia and Washington. No illnesses connected to these particular lots have been reported to the FDA to date, according to the company’s own notice.

August 28, 2025: AquaStar Recalls Cocktail Shrimp Sold at Walmart

AquaStar recalled about 26,460 packages of its 6-ounce Cocktail Shrimp, sold only at Walmart stores in 27 states between July 31 and August 16, 2025 [5]. The affected trays carry UPC 19434612191 and one of four lot codes – 10662 5106, 5107, 5124 or 5125 – printed on the bottom of the package, alongside a refrigerated 12-day shelf life and a Best if Used By date.

August 27, 2025: AquaStar Recalls Kroger Mercado Cooked Shrimp

AquaStar recalled about 18,000 bags of Kroger Mercado Cooked Medium Peeled Tail-Off Shrimp sold at Kroger-family stores in 17 states between July 24 and August 11, 2025 [6]. The bags carry UPC 011110626196 and lot code 10662 5139 or 5140, sold at Baker’s, Gerbes, Jay C and Pick ‘n Save, with a Best Before date of November 19 or 20, 2027 printed on the front label.

August 22, 2025: Beaver Street Fisheries Recalls Great Value Shrimp

Beaver Street Fisheries formally recalled its Great Value-branded raw shrimp – EZ-Peel, deveined and tail-on, 21-25 count per pound – sold at select Walmart stores in 13 states between July 28 and August 7, 2025. The three affected lot codes – 8005540-1, 8005538-1 and 8005539-1 – all carry a Best by Date of March 15, 2027. The recall followed the FDA’s own advisory naming these same lots just three days earlier, on August 19.

August 21, 2025: Southwind Foods Recalls Five Shrimp Brands

Southwind Foods, LLC initiated the first company recall of this event. It covered raw and cooked shrimp sold under the Sand Bar, Arctic Shores, Best Yet, Great American and First Street brands [7]. The shrimp had been offered for sale in the same nine states between mid-July and early August 2025, before Southwind’s second expansion covered the identical footprint on August 29.

August 19, 2025: FDA Warns Public over Indonesian Shrimp

The FDA publicly advised against certain imported frozen shrimp after Customs and Border Protection found Cesium-137 in shipping containers. Walmart recalled specific Great Value raw shrimp lots that same day [8]. FDA sampling covered five different shrimp products from the supplier, one of which was breaded shrimp. Walmart told reporters it had restricted sales and pulled the product from its affected stores while it investigated with the supplier.

June 10, 2025: Bornstein Seafoods Recalls Coldwater Shrimp Meat

Bornstein Seafoods Inc. of Bellingham, Washington recalled 44,550 pounds of cooked, peeled, ready-to-eat coldwater shrimp meat over possible Listeria monocytogenes contamination, a hazard unrelated to the Cesium-137 recalls [9]. The product was distributed to distributors and retailers in California, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. Bornstein’s own routine sampling caught the contamination before any illness was ever reported, the company said in its notice to the FDA.

March 2, 2023: Lidl Recalls Tapas Cocktail Shrimp

Lidl US recalled its 7-ounce Tapas branded Cocktail Shrimp, UPC 4056489411499, after routine testing found Listeria monocytogenes, a hazard unrelated to the 2025 Cesium-137 recalls [10]. The product had reached all Lidl store locations across ten East Coast states and Washington, D.C. Lidl had received no illness reports tied to the product at the time it announced the recall, its own statement said.

September 21, 2021: CDC Declares the Salmonella Shrimp Outbreak Over

The CDC declared a multistate Salmonella Weltevreden outbreak over, with 9 confirmed illnesses across 4 states tied to shrimp from Avanti Frozen Foods. Investigators had used genetic fingerprinting to link the illnesses to the tainted shrimp [11]. Three of the six patients with information available had been hospitalized, and no deaths were reported, the CDC’s own case count showed as the investigation closed.

August 13, 2021: CDC Reopens Its Shrimp Salmonella Investigation

CDC reopened its Salmonella investigation after three more illnesses were reported, bringing the total to 9 confirmed cases across 4 states as of August 10, 2021. Avanti Frozen Foods expanded its recall to additional brands and expiration dates, the agency’s own update said. At least one of the newly added patients had eaten shrimp that was not part of the original recall, the CDC noted.

June 25, 2021: Avanti Frozen Foods Recalls Cooked Shrimp

Avanti Frozen Foods Pvt. Ltd, the supplier at the center of the outbreak above, recalled cooked shrimp sold under the Censea, Hannaford, Open Acres, Waterfront Bistro and other store brands after FDA import testing found Salmonella [12]. The frozen shrimp had been distributed nationwide from late December 2020 to late February 2021. Six illnesses had been linked to it by the time of this announcement, a number the CDC’s later updates raised to nine.

August 13, 2020: Kader Exports Recalls Salmonella-Linked Shrimp

Kader Exports recalled frozen cooked, peeled and deveined shrimp, sold in 1, 1.5 and 2-pound bags under brands including Aqua Star Reserve, Censea, Kirkland and Tops, after FDA testing found Salmonella in the product [13]. The shrimp had been distributed nationwide from late February to mid-May of that year. No illnesses were reported, and the FDA called cross-contamination the probable root cause, adding that Kader Exports had voluntarily destroyed the affected product.

What Is Cesium-137?

According to the CDC’s Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Cesium-137 is a man-made radioactive form of cesium created by nuclear reactions [14]. Natural cesium in soil and dust is stable and not radioactive. Cesium-137 instead decays over a half-life of about 30 years, giving off beta particles – which is why FDA testing treats even a single contaminated shipment as a concern, since repeated low-dose exposure raises long-term cancer risk.

Which Shrimp Are Affected?

The shrimp under the FDA’s Cesium-137 advisory and the older Salmonella and Listeria recalls carry different brands and identifiers, listed below by firm:

• Southwind Foods: raw and cooked shrimp under five house brands (listed in full above), with various item numbers and lot codes
• Beaver Street Fisheries: its Great Value house-brand raw shrimp, described in the August 22 update above
• AquaStar: Cocktail Shrimp 6oz (UPC 19434612191), plus Kroger Mercado cooked shrimp, Kroger Raw Colossal EZ Peel shrimp and raw peeled tail-on shrimp skewers
• Sea Port Products Corp: its jumbo (16/20 count) frozen white shrimp line
• Direct Source Seafood: Market 32 and Waterfront Bistro frozen raw shrimp, various best-by dates
• Lawrence Wholesale: Kroger-brand shrimp cocktail and frozen shrimp
• Older, unrelated recalls: Bornstein Seafoods coldwater shrimp meat (Listeria), Lidl Tapas Cocktail Shrimp (Listeria), Avanti Frozen Foods and Kader Exports cooked shrimp (Salmonella)

Anyone unsure whether a bag is covered should match its brand, size and lot code against the firm’s own notice. Codes differ even within a brand because six firms packed shrimp from the same PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati shipments.

Why Were Shrimp Recalled?

Shrimp was recalled because Customs and Border Protection detected Cesium-137 in shipping containers at four ports. FDA lab testing then confirmed the same contaminant in one sample of breaded shrimp linked to PT. Bahari Makmur Sejati. The FDA said the product may have been prepared, packed or held under insanitary conditions that allowed contamination. It added the supplier to an import alert on August 14, 2025 to keep more shrimp out of the country. The measured level, about 68.48 Bq/kg, was below the FDA’s 1,200 Bq/kg intervention limit. No shipment known to have reached store shelves has tested positive. The recalls guard against repeated low-dose exposure over time. The separate, older Salmonella recalls (Avanti Frozen Foods, Kader Exports) and Listeria recalls (Lidl, Bornstein Seafoods) trace to ordinary bacterial contamination. They have nothing to do with the Cesium-137 investigation.

Reported Incidents, Injuries, or Illnesses

No illnesses have been reported in connection with any of the Cesium-137 shrimp recalls, as of the FDA’s most recent posted update. The agency has said repeatedly that no shrimp testing positive for the contaminant is known to have reached consumers anywhere in the country. The separate 2021 Salmonella outbreak tied to Avanti Frozen Foods shrimp is a different matter. The CDC counted 9 confirmed illnesses across 4 states, three of which required hospitalization, with no deaths. That outbreak has been over since September 2021 and is unrelated to the current recalls, which involve a completely different hazard. A reported illness does not by itself prove a specific bag of shrimp caused it. Health officials rely on lab testing and interview data to link cases to a product.

What Should Consumers Do?

Anyone with shrimp from an affected brand should take the following steps:

1. Check each bag’s brand, UPC and lot code against the list in Which Shrimp Are Affected?.
2. Do not eat or serve any shrimp that matches an affected brand or lot.
3. Throw the shrimp away, or return it to the store for a full refund.
4. Call the recalling company with questions – for example, Southwind Foods at 1-323-262-8222 or AquaStar at 1-800-331-3440.
5. Separately, report any illness or reaction to the FDA through its Industry and Consumer Assistance channel.
6. Watch for fever, diarrhea or muscle aches if the shrimp was one of the older Salmonella or Listeria recalls, and call a doctor if symptoms develop.

Legal Options

A lawsuit tied to the Cesium-137 recalls (No. 5:25-cv-02538), filed September 25, 2025 and detailed in the timeline above, named three retailers and suppliers as defendants. Southwind Foods was later dismissed. The case continues in federal court against Beaver Street Fisheries and Walmart. Attorneys are also separately reviewing potential exposure and illness claims tied to the recalled shrimp. A recall does not automatically establish liability or eligibility for compensation.

Filing Deadlines

The deadline for filing a legal claim over a recalled product comes from state law, which differs across the country. How much time someone has depends on where they live and when the exposure, illness or injury happened, and sometimes on when a doctor made the diagnosis. Some states use the diagnosis date as the starting point. Others count from the date of exposure itself, which can change the outcome significantly. Missing a deadline can end a claim no matter how strong the facts are, so anyone considering one should talk to a lawyer promptly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is There a Multidistrict Litigation (MDL) for the Shrimp Recall Lawsuit?

No, there is no multidistrict litigation for the shrimp recalls. The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation’s own pending-case list carries no shrimp or Cesium-137 matter. The one filed case is proceeding on its own in that same court.

Does Eating Recalled Shrimp Cause Symptoms Right Away?

Eating shrimp from the radioactive-contamination recalls causes no immediate symptom. The FDA’s real concern is an elevated, long-term rise in cancer risk that builds from repeated low-dose exposure over many meals.

What Are the Symptoms of Salmonella or Listeria from Shrimp?

Symptoms of Salmonella or Listeria from shrimp differ. Salmonella usually brings fever, diarrhea and stomach cramps within a day or two. Listeria can take up to 70 days to cause fever and muscle aches, and is more dangerous for pregnant women and older adults.

Is It Safe to Eat Shrimp That Tested Below the FDA’s Safety Limit?

Shrimp that tested below the FDA’s safety limit is not an acute risk from a single meal. The recalled lots should still be thrown away or returned. The agency’s caution is about cumulative exposure that builds up over time.

What Should I Do If I Still Have Recalled Shrimp in My Freezer?

If recalled shrimp might still be in your freezer, check every bag bought in the past several months against the brand and lot codes above. Frozen shrimp keeps well, so older stock can predate a recall announcement.

Who Is at Higher Risk from the Salmonella and Listeria Shrimp Recalls?

Young children, older adults, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems face the highest risk from the Salmonella and Listeria shrimp recalls. Infections in these groups are more likely to turn serious or require hospitalization.

Who Is Overseeing the Shrimp Recall Lawsuit?

The shrimp recall lawsuit is overseen by U.S. District Judge Kenly Kiya Kato, with Magistrate Judge A. Joel Richlin handling pretrial matters in the same federal court hearing the case.

References

1. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/direct-source-seafood-llc-recalling-frozen-raw-shrimp-because-product-may-have-become-contaminated
2. https://www.courtlistener.com/?q=Southwind+Foods&type=r
3. https://www.fda.gov/safety/major-product-recalls/2025-recalls-frozen-shrimp-products-associated-cesium-137-contamination-pt-bahari-makmur-sejati-due
4. https://www.fda.gov/food/alerts-advisories-safety-information/fda-advises-public-not-eat-sell-or-serve-certain-imported-frozen-shrimp-indonesian-firm
5. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/aquastar-usa-corp-recalls-cocktail-shrimp-6oz-because-possible-health-risk
6. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/aquastar-usa-corp-recalls-kroger-mercado-frozen-cooked-shrimp-because-possible-health-risk
7. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/southwind-foods-llc-recalls-frozen-shrimp-because-possible-health-risk
8. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/walmart-great-value-shrimp-radioactive-contamination-cesium-137-fda/
9. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/bornstein-seafoods-inc-recalls-cooked-peeled-ready-eat-coldwater-shrimp-meat-because-possible-health
10. https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2023/03/cocktail-shrimp-sold-at-lidl-stores-recalled-after-testing-finds-listeria/
11. https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/salmonella/weltevreden-06-21/details.html
12. https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/avanti-frozen-foods-recalls-frozen-cooked-shrimp-because-possible-health-risk
13. https://www.foxbusiness.com/lifestyle/kader-exports-recalls-shrimp-over-salmonella-contamination
14. https://wwwn.cdc.gov/TSP/ToxFAQs/ToxFAQsDetails.aspx?faqid=576&toxid=107