Walmart, Aldi Investigate Contaminated Imported Shrimp

Walmart and Aldi said that they are investigating claims of contaminated shrimp coming from facilities in India, reports NBC News.

Whistleblower and manager of shrimp factory Choice Canning, Joshua Farinella, said the facilities operated under unsanitary conditions and routinely approved the export of shrimp tainted with antibiotics that violate U.S. food safety law, according to the report.

“We expect suppliers to operate safe workplaces, take responsibility for the well-being of their workers, adhere to our forced labor prevention principles, and to protect the integrity of the food we sell by complying with all FDA regulatory requirements and Walmart food safety standards,” a Walmart spokesperson said.

“The consumers need to understand that they’ve been purchasing a contaminated product that was made by people who don’t have the luxury of going home,” said Farinella, who filed a complaint with the FDA and other regulators detailing his allegations.

A report by the Chicago-based advocacy group Corporate Accountability Lab found that Farinella’s allegations may be part of a larger problem in the Indian shrimp industry.

“In the processing sector, workers live in overcrowded and often unsanitary conditions under the careful surveillance of company guards,” found the CAL report. “They are rarely allowed to leave the premises.”

Lawyers for Choice Canning denied wrongdoing.

“The allegations that have been brought against our company are false and without merit,” a spokesperson for Choice Canning Company Inc. said in a statement. Full Story