Excessive chemical additives found in Chinese imports of Ecuadorian Pacific white shrimp

A post on Chinese social media by a local individual has attracted great attention, warning of an excessive level of chemical additives on shrimp imported from Ecuador into China. On 18 February, the blog said that traces of sodium metabisulphite, used as a food preservative for shrimp, were found after a test was performed on products bought from an e-commerce site. In addition, 0.155g/kg of sulphur dioxide residue (formed due to sodium metabisulfite decomposition) was also detected in Chinese seawater shrimp and crab, exceeding the national edible standard of no more than 0.1g/kg.

Since sodium metabisulphite can affect health in the long term, this breaking news hit the headlines.  It is worth noting that the value and volume of Ecuadorian shrimp imported into China have increased rapidly in the past ten years, especially during 2018–2022. In 2014, these figures were recorded at USD 134 029 995 and 15 818 tonnes respectively, rising to USD 3 548 486 096 and 697 357 tonnes in 2023.

In the foreseeable future, consumption of Pacific white shrimp in China will be impacted to some extent, thereby influencing both the farming and export sectors in the supplying nations.