Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade,

Allshouse, Jane E.

Buzby, Jean C.

Harvey, David J.

Zorn, David

English

Research Papers in Economics

Issue: The safety of seafood trade is increasingly impor-
tant to the United States for several reasons. U.S. per capita
fish consumption has increased over 50 percent since 1980.
More than three-fourths of total U.S. fish consumption
comes from imports. Although there is no evidence that
imported food is necessarily riskier, a number of the coun-
tries exporting seafood to the U.S. have poorer internal
control systems and/or are in tropical areas where toxin and
bacteria hazards are higher. Seafood safety and trade issues
are complex due to the diversity of harvest methods, pro-
duction areas, markets, and seafood species involved.
Background: The United States is a major producer and
exporter of fish and fishery products. In 2001, the United
States imported roughly $6.8 billion more in edible seafood
than it exported, sourcing from a large number of countries.
In general, seafood trade with the United States is less
restricted than trade in other agricultural products, with the
vast majority of seafood products entering tariff free. 
Seafood is processed into a wide range of products and is
consumed in many forms (e.g., smoked, canned, salted,
dried, frozen, and raw). While thorough cooking destroys
most harmful pathogens, seafood safety hazards remain.
For example, raw oysters and clams have been linked to
illness from Vibrio vulnificus and other pathogens. 
A National Academy of Sciences report indicates that
most seafood sold in the United States is unlikely to cause
illness. U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
reports that 6.8 percent of the 2,751 foodborne disease
outbreaks reported during 1993-97 were attributed to con-
sumption of seafood. 
In addition to pathogens, other kinds of contamination can
affect both farm-raised and wild-caught seafood. Countries
vary in their use of vaccines, feed additives, and antibi-
otics for farm-raised fish and shellfish, and residues from
these production inputs sometimes cause food safety con-
cerns. Wild-caught seafood may be affected by other kinds
of contamination such as histamines. 
Hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) sys-
tems have been implemented increasingly by private
industry for seafood, sometimes voluntarily and sometimes
as mandated by Federal governments. Investment in new
technologies and equipment and in identity preservation
systems is also improving seafood safety.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) detains
and inspects samples of imported seafood at the port of
entry, refuses adulterated shipments, inspects the facilities
of foreign processors who wish to export to the United
States, and inspects the facilities of seafood importers in
the United States. This study analyzed FDA detention data
for seafood products imported from 130 countries in 2001.
United States
Department of
Agriculture
Economic 
Research
Service
Issues in Diet, Safety, and Health / Agriculture Information Bulletin Number 789-7 February 2004
Seafood Safety and Trade
Jane Allshouse, allshous@ers.usda.gov, (202) 694-5449
Jean Buzby, jbuzby@ers.usda.gov, (202) 694-5370
David Harvey, djharvey@ers.usda.gov, (202) 694-5177
David Zorn (FDA)
Value of U.S. exports and imports of edible 
seafood, 1991-2001
$ billion
Source:  National Marine Fisheries Service, 2002.
Exports
Imports
1991 93 95 97 99 2001
0
2
4
6
8
10
122 Economic Research Service / USDA
Seafood Safety and Trade / AIB-789-7
Findings: Salmonella is a potential target for risk reduc-
tion. FDA detention data showed that Salmonella was the
most common contaminant of fish and fishery products. Of
the 6,405 violations, 83.6 percent were for adulteration (as
opposed to misbranding), and Salmonella accounted for 34
percent of all adulteration violations. Adulteration deals
with safety, packaging integrity, or sanitation problems.
Most Salmonella contamination problems in seafood are
for shrimp. Almost one-quarter of all detentions, and
more than half of the violations for Salmonella, were for
shrimp and prawns (farm raised and wild caught), which
was expected because shrimp is by far the largest seafood
import item. Therefore, risk reduction efforts could be
focused here. With over one-quarter of shrimp production
from aquaculture, research is needed to determine if
improved sanitation during production could lessen the
occurrence and extent of Salmonella contamination. This
diligence will not solve all the problems because—unlike
meat and poultry, where Salmonella may be a naturally
occurring bacterium in the animals’ digestive tracts—
Salmonella contamination in shrimp is often due to cross-
contamination later during processing. 
According to seafood experts, shrimp will continue to be
produced primarily by developing nations and to dominate
seafood trade from developing nations to developed nations
for the foreseeable future. Some research has found that
less developed countries often have difficulty meeting the
required quality and safety standards because of a lack of
sufficient funds to invest in quality control measures, ade-
quately trained staff, and expensive equipment.
International seafood markets will continue to expand
and may become increasingly segmented. Continued
growth in international seafood markets may increase mar-
ket segmentation. According to Wessells and Wallström,
wealthy countries demand seafood products with food
safety ensured, while less wealthy countries consume
seafood products with fewer safety assurances. The degree
of food safety could become, to some extent, a source of
product differentiation.
International disputes over seafood safety have affected
trade opportunities for producers, exporters, and importers.
Although some of these incidents have resulted in relative-
ly short-term interruptions of trade and minor economic
impacts, medium- to long-term costs could continue to
accrue from continued market diversions (i.e., lost market
share), loss of momentum in the sector, decreased prices,
and reduced capacity due to temporary or permanent plant
closures. However, food safety problems are relatively
minor when considering the magnitude of trade. For
example, detention rates in terms of value were low, with
an average of 0.46 detention per $1 million of imports.
Information Sources:
For full text, see Allshouse, J., J. Buzby, D. Harvey, and
D. Zorn. “International Trade and Seafood Safety,” chapter
7 in International Trade and Food Safety: Economic
Theory and Case Studies. J. Buzby (ed.). USDA, Econ.
Res. Serv., AER-828, Nov. 2003. www.ers.usda.gov/publi-
cations/aer828/
Ahmed, F.E., Editor, Institute of Medicine. Seafood Safety.
National Academy Press: Washington DC, 1991.
Wessells, C.R., and P. Wallström. “New Dimensions in
World Fisheries: Implications for U.S. and E.C. Trade in
Seafood,” chapter 21 in Agricultural Trade Conflicts and
GATT: New Dimension in North American-European
Agricultural Trade Relations, G. Anania, C. Carter, and A.
McCalla (eds.). Boulder: Westview Press, 1994.
Share of FDA violations for Salmonella, by 
seafood product, 2001
Source:  ERS calculations using 2001 FDA Import Detention Reports.
Shrimp & 
prawns—
58%
Lobster—5%
Milkfish—4%
Tilapia—4%
Oysters—3%
Squid—3%
Catfish—2%
Eel—2%
Other—19%
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Seafood Safety and Trade

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