Indonesia Traces Radioactive Shrimp Crisis to Suspected Scrap Metal Contamination in Cikande

US shrimp checks expose contamination at 22 Indonesian facilities

Radioactive contamination detected in Indonesian shrimp has led investigators to an industrial estate west of Jakarta, where authorities found Cesium-137 at at least 22 facilities. By October 10, 2025, the investigation had prompted recalls across more than a dozen US states, restrictions on scrap metal imports and a cleanup involving Indonesia's nuclear regulator, research agency, environmental authorities and police.

The suspected source is PT Peter Metal Technology, a steelmaker that melts imported scrap in the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate in Serang Regency, Banten province. Its grounds are less than two kilometers from PT Bahari Makmur Sejati, known as BMS Foods, which processed shrimp linked to the US detections. The estate is about 60 to 70 kilometers west of Jakarta, roughly an hour from the capital.

US laboratory testing found about 68 becquerels per kilogram of Cesium-137 in one shrimp sample, far below the Food and Drug Administration's intervention level of 1,200 becquerels per kilogram. The FDA said there was no acute hazard from a single meal. Its concern was repeated exposure over time, which can increase cancer risk.

Inside Indonesia, the response extends beyond food shipments. Authorities restricted access to affected areas, screened vehicles and offered medical checks to workers and nearby residents. Nine people tested positive for exposure, underwent hospital examinations and were cleared to return home. Residents in the most affected locations were to be moved while decontamination continued.

Indonesia has no nuclear power plants and no nuclear weapons program. Investigators suspect contaminated imported scrap introduced the isotope into the industrial estate. They are also examining shipping containers as a possible route of contamination, including for a clove shipment associated with an exporter far from Cikande.

How the alarms became recalls and import controls

US Customs and Border Protection first flagged several containers from Indonesia in July through radiation portal monitors, equipment used to detect radioactive material as cargo passes through checkpoints. In August, the FDA sampled a shipment of frozen breaded shrimp processed by BMS Foods and detected Cesium-137.

Distributors and retailers were instructed to dispose of affected lots. Companies, including major retailers, removed products from shelves as investigators worked to identify how contamination had reached the processing and export chain.

The recalls covered shrimp sold in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia. Those 13 states illustrate how a problem at one processing location can spread through a large retail network.

The response developed over several months:

• July: US Customs and Border Protection radiation monitors flagged several containers from Indonesia.
• August: FDA testing detected Cesium-137 in a shipment of frozen breaded shrimp processed by BMS Foods.
• By early autumn: Shrimp recalls had spread across more than a dozen US states, while Indonesian surveys identified contamination at 22 industrial facilities.
• October: The FDA used authority under the Food Safety Modernization Act to require import certification for shrimp and certain spices from Java and Lampung province.

BMS Foods and Natural Java Spice were placed on import alert pending evidence that shipments meet US standards. Certification requires documentation that covered food meets the applicable safety requirements before it can enter the US market. Firms associated with contamination findings face shipment checks until they can demonstrate compliance.

US regulators said no products that tested positive for Cesium-137 had reached US consumers. The recalls still removed affected lots from sale while the contamination investigation and checks on related shipments continued.

What investigators found around the suspected steelmaker

Indonesian radiation survey teams examined the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate after the US detections. At least 22 facilities registered contamination, making the response an industrial area cleanup rather than an inspection of the shrimp processor alone.

PT Peter Metal Technology became the focus because it melts imported scrap metal and operates close to BMS Foods. Authorities designated the steel plant grounds as an isolation site where contaminated goods and materials could be held. The Cikande estate was also designated a serious incident zone, allowing authorities to cordon off areas, manage traffic and carry out decontamination.

Bara Hasibuan, spokesperson for the government task force, identified imported scrap as the likely source and outlined the planned restrictions.

Scrap metal imports are the likely source of contamination, and the government will immediately restrict them.

The government suspended scrap metal imports while inspections continued and import conditions were being rewritten. Investigators were also auditing the steel plant's waste stream to trace where radioactive material might have entered production and where contaminated waste had gone.

Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta provided another important finding: officials identified 14 shipping containers of scrap that measured positive for Cesium-137. The discovery widened attention to cargo movements and containers, alongside the suspected release of contaminated dust near the industrial estate.

Survey teams were collecting air, soil, water and surface wipe samples to map locations with higher contamination and follow possible dust pathways. They were also examining whether containers previously used to carry contaminated scrap had later been reused for food shipments.

How radioactive scrap could reach shrimp

Cesium-137 is a byproduct of nuclear fission, the splitting of atomic nuclei. It is associated with nuclear accidents and weapons testing, but it also appears in sealed industrial gauges and some medical devices. Its radioactive half life is about 30 years, meaning that half its radioactivity decays over that period.

An industrial device containing radioactive material can become an orphan source when it falls outside proper control and enters a waste stream. If workers do not identify it before scrap is melted, its contents can pass into a furnace along with ordinary metal.

Cesium chloride, a common form of cesium, vaporizes at furnace temperatures. It can travel in flue gas as fine particles and settle on roofs, ducts, yards and equipment. Ventilation systems can draw that dust into nearby buildings.

BMS Foods' location less than two kilometers from the suspected steelmaker is central to the investigation. Radioactive dust leaving a smelter could enter a food processing facility, settle on surfaces and reach packaging lines. Shrimp exposed during processing or packing could then register radioactivity even without contact with radioactive material during farming.

Shipping containers provide another possible route. Trace cesium left on container walls could transfer to pallets, outer packaging or cargo. Investigators were considering that explanation alongside airborne contamination, especially where the food exporter was far from Cikande.

Radiation monitors at borders and factory gates are intended to intercept orphan sources, but gaps can allow them through. When contaminated scrap is melted, the resulting metal can become unusable, while slag and filters become radioactive waste. Fumes and dust can also carry the problem beyond the smelter to neighboring businesses.

What the radiation measurements mean for health

The FDA's measurements put the shrimp sample at about 68 becquerels per kilogram and a clove sample at 732 becquerels per kilogram. The clove shipment did not enter US commerce. Both figures were below the FDA's Derived Intervention Level of 1,200 becquerels per kilogram for Cesium-137.

A becquerel measures radioactivity: one becquerel means one atomic decay each second. Reporting becquerels per kilogram shows how much radioactive activity is present in a given weight of food. The intervention level is a benchmark for regulatory action intended to keep lifetime risk low.

The shrimp reading was about 5.7 percent of the 1,200 becquerels per kilogram benchmark. The FDA said the detected levels posed no immediate danger to shoppers and no short term hazard from a single serving. Repeated consumption is the concern because successive exposures can add to a person's cumulative radiation dose.

The FDA explained that concern in its public notice:

The primary health effect of concern following longer term, repeated low dose exposure is an elevated risk of cancer, resulting from damage to DNA within living cells of the body.

Cesium-137 behaves in the body somewhat like potassium. The body eliminates most ingested cesium, with a biological half life near 110 days, although a small fraction persists in soft tissue. That biological half life describes removal from the body, while the roughly 30 year radioactive half life describes decay of the isotope itself.

Cesium is more biologically active than potassium-40, a natural radioactive isotope found in many foods. Regulators therefore act on findings of cesium produced by human activity even when measured amounts are modest. Recalls and tighter import checks aim to stop contaminated food from being eaten repeatedly.

Workers and residents face checks and temporary moves

Medical teams screened workers and people living near the industrial estate as radiation surveys identified affected locations. Nine people tested positive for Cesium-137 exposure. They were examined in hospital and cleared to go home.

Residents in areas with the highest exposure were to be relocated until cleanup was complete. Environment Minister Hanif Faisol said their welfare was the priority guiding that decision.

The safety of the residents is the top priority.

Authorities tightened entry and exit controls around affected parts of the estate and scanned vehicles for trace radioactivity. Those checks form part of the effort to keep contaminated dust or goods from moving into other workplaces and communities.

Workers and residents were also receiving hygiene advice to reduce the chance that fine contaminated particles would be stirred back into the air and spread. For people living or working nearby, the response meant medical screening, controlled access and, in the most affected locations, temporary removal from their homes.

Cleanup changes the rules for factories and imports

Indonesia created a Cesium-137 task force led by the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs. The nuclear regulator BAPETEN, the research agency BRIN, the Environment Ministry and national police were coordinating radiation surveys, waste handling and enforcement.

Decontamination teams were vacuuming and wiping dust from workspaces, washing equipment and bagging contaminated scrap and filters. They were removing localized patches of contaminated soil or debris for secure storage at the isolation site on the steel plant grounds.

BMS Foods cleaned its facility and was later cleared by the nuclear regulator to resume operations, according to the task force. The company said it was working under nuclear agency oversight. Its reopening came alongside continued controls elsewhere in the estate.

The government was rewriting conditions for scrap metal imports during the suspension. New requirements included radiation portal monitors at factory gates and warehouses, as well as continuous emission monitoring systems on smokestacks to track particulate releases.

Officials said import permits would be restored case by case once companies demonstrated that they met radiation safety standards. The changes put checks at several points in the scrap supply chain: when material arrives, when it enters a facility and when particles leave through industrial emissions.

What shoppers and seafood buyers need to do

Consumers should check product codes and lot numbers against recall lists and follow retailer instructions for refunds. Country of origin labels can help identify products, while the particular facility and lot determine whether a package is covered by a recall.

Products from unaffected facilities or regions can be used as intended. When recall information is unavailable and there is doubt about a product, discarding it is the prudent choice. Cooking does not remove Cesium-137.

Indonesian officials said seafood exports remained safe because affected facilities were being cleaned and shipments certified before departure. Fisheries Minister Sakti Wahyu Trenggono said controls had become stricter and cooperation with US regulators was active.

The shrimp being shipped are controlled and free from radioactive material.

Shrimp is important to Indonesia's export earnings, and the United States is a key buyer. The contamination findings led to the return of some containers, fresh testing and temporary shipment holds. Buyers were requiring documentation that lots were free of contamination before shipping.

For exporters, the immediate change was a need to demonstrate safety through testing and certification. BMS Foods' clearance to operate and government assurances about controlled shipments accompanied the additional US requirements for shrimp and selected spices from the affected regions.

The clove shipment widens the investigation

The clove shipment that tested positive at a US port came from an exporter hundreds of miles from Cikande. Indonesian inspectors said they had found no radiation at that clove plant and were testing samples brought back into Indonesia to verify the results.

Investigators were considering whether a container previously used for contaminated scrap or other cargo transferred trace cesium from its walls to spice sacks. That possible route would explain how contamination could travel with freight rather than remain close to the suspected steelmaker.

The precise source and route of contamination had not yet been confirmed as of October 10. Investigators were tracing scrap movements, testing returned samples and examining how dust or contaminated containers might have reached food shipments.

The 14 contaminated scrap containers at Tanjung Priok gave authorities another part of the supply chain to investigate. International cooperation, including technical support from the International Atomic Energy Agency, was in place to help locate radioactive sources and remove them from circulation.

Cleanup at Cikande continued while Indonesia sought to reassure overseas buyers through facility inspections and shipment certification. The investigation covered both the local industrial environment and the movement of scrap and containers across borders.

What to Know

• US radiation screening and FDA testing detected Cesium-137 linked to Indonesian shrimp, prompting recalls across 13 states.
• Indonesia found contamination at at least 22 facilities in the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate, about 60 to 70 kilometers west of Jakarta.
• Investigators suspected contaminated imported scrap at PT Peter Metal Technology, less than two kilometers from shrimp processor BMS Foods.
• A shrimp sample measured about 68 becquerels per kilogram, below the FDA intervention level of 1,200; repeated exposure was the main health concern.
• Nine people tested positive for exposure and were cleared after hospital checks. Residents in the most affected areas were to move during cleanup.
• BMS Foods cleaned its facility and received regulatory clearance to resume operations under oversight.
• The FDA required import certification for shrimp and certain spices from Java and Lampung province. BMS Foods and Natural Java Spice were on import alert.
• Indonesia suspended scrap imports and was introducing radiation monitors and continuous monitoring of particulate emissions.
• Officials found 14 contaminated scrap containers at Tanjung Priok port. A clove shipment measuring 732 becquerels per kilogram remained part of the investigation.
• Decontamination, cargo tracing and international technical support continued as authorities worked to confirm the contamination pathways.