By Sam Courtney-Guy
Copyright metro
Contaminated foods were found in shipments at the Port of Los Angeles (Picture: Getty)
US authorities have detected radioactive substances in two food products imported from Indonesia in recent weeks.
The Food and Drug Administrator (FDA) announced on Friday that Caesium-137, a radioactive isotope, had been found in a shipment of cloves from the southeast Asian country.
Last month a shipment of shrimp destined for sale at Walmart stores was found to have the same issue.
Both shipments were intercepted at shipping ports before they could enter commerce.
Caesium-137 is produced only in man-made nuclear reactions, such as at nuclear power facilities.
Due to nuclear weapons testing and nuclear accidents such as the Chernobyl disaster, trace amounts of it can be found in soil, food and air all around the world.
Clove is a spice whose popularity increases in the colder months (Picture: Getty)
It only poses a danger to human life if it becomes concentrated enough in a particular substance.
Animals living in waters with low levels of radioactive contamination can end up with much higher contamination than the surrounding water because of how their digestive systems work.
The level of radioactivity of the tested shrimp and spice samples was well below the threshold where the FDA considers it a risk to public health.
But the regulator nonetheless took action to stop sales.
A recall of raw and frozen shrimp sold by four companies under a number of brand names was ordered.
BMS Food and another Indonesian exporter have been added to a temporary blacklist
BMS Foods and PT Natural Java Spice, the companies which exported the shrimp and spices respectively, have also been added to a temporary FDA blacklist.
It means all future shipments from those firms will not be allowed to enter US markets until they demonstrate to the FDA that the cause of the contamination has been resolved.
The FDA said it is also providing resources to Indonesian fishing authorities to help ensure catches are not contaminated.
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