A bill introduced to the U.S. Senate aims to set stricter federal inspection requirements for shrimp imports.

Senate Bill 667, named the Safer Shrimp Imports Act, is sponsored by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS). According to a statement from her office, the legislation is aligned with Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” goals by “eliminating harmful chemicals in the food supply” and giving American consumers “confidence that the imported shrimp they’re eating isn’t contaminated with drugs.”

According to Sen. Hyde-Smith, imports account for 90 percent of shrimp consumed by Americans, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tests only a small percentage of seafood imports for drugs or other contaminants that are banned in domestically produced shrimp. The Safer Shrimp Imports Act aims to address this by requiring FDA to ensure that food safety inspections in importing countries meet standards equivalent to those upheld in the U.S. Any shrimp that did not meet international equivalence would be deemed “adulterated” under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act. FDA would be required to regularly report to Congress on their activities to ensure international equivalence of imported shrimp.

Sen. Hyde-Smith collaborates with the American Shrimp Processors Association (ASPA) on shrimp safety issues. ASPA supports the Safer Shrimp Imports Act.

The bill has been referred to the Senate Committee on Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Congress has previously engaged with FDA to increase the safety of imported shrimp. In 2021, Congress mandated FDA to consider and develop new options for enhancing the regulation of imported aquacultured shrimp, including setting up a Regulatory Partnership Arrangement (RPA) with each of the three largest exporting countries by volume—India, Indonesia, and Ecuador.