Americans love shrimp — it's the most consumed seafood in this country, after all.
But a devotion to eating shrimp comes with more than a few downsides, from health-related
problems, to environmental concerns, to human rights violations.
Here's what you need to know before you take another bite.
You may not think much about the dietary implications of shrimp, even as you're mowing through a
pound-and-a-half of peel-and-eat.
After all, nothing that small could possibly be bad for you, right?
"Shrimp is the fruit of the sea."
Here's something that might give you pause if you're worried about your heart: In spite
of their small size, what shrimp lack in calories they make up for in weirdly high cholesterol.
According to Healthline, 3.5 ounces of shrimp equals around 200 milligrams of cholesterol
— a, quote, "full day's allotment" for people watching their heart health .
In spite of those high numbers, some research suggests that because shrimp are so low in
total fat and contain no saturated fat, a shrimp-heavy diet may actually be healthier
overall than, say, an egg-based diet.
The cholesterol numbers alone shouldn't dissuade you from knocking out a shrimp cocktail from
time to time.
"Dear God.
Gentlemen, uh, your shrimp counts are dangerously high right now."
Shrimp fisheries in the United States are clean, well-regulated, and safe.
Unfortunately, if you're eating shrimp, it's likely been imported from countries with little
to no industry regulations — like Thailand, Vietnam, and India.
How many shrimp come from such places, you ask?
A whopping 92 percent of the shrimp eaten in the United States — that's how many!
And because the U.S. maintains the most open marketplace for sketchy shrimp, we often import
the discards from the European Union and Japan at rock-bottom prices.
So what's wrong with that all-you-can-eat fried shrimp platter that costs less than
a slice of pizza?
Well, let's let the numbers do the talking: In a random test conducted by ABC News and
Texas Tech University which examined 30 samples of imported shrimp purchased at the supermarket.
They concluded:
"Two samples of farm-raised shrimp from India and Thailand tested positive for nitrofurazone,
an antibiotic that's a known carcinogen, at levels 28 and 29 times higher than those allowed
by the FDA.
Another antibiotic, chloramphenicol, was detected at levels 150 times the legal limit [which
has] been banned in food production in the U.S. because of possible severe side effects
such as aplastic anemia and leukemia."
Farming shrimp instead of catching them in the wild may be efficient, and it definitely
helps keep costs low, which is great…
IF YOU HATE THE PLANET.
Shrimp farming in Thailand, Ecuador, Indonesia, China, Mexico, and Vietnam has caused the
destruction of as much as 80 percent of the mangroves in those countries, as they are
clearcut to make way for our seemingly ever-increasing appetite for farmed shrimp.
What's the problem with cutting down a few dumb old swamp trees to pave the way for more
sweet, sweet shrimp?
According to Prevention:
"Mangrove forests absorb and trap more climate-changing carbon dioxide than any other ecosystem on
the planet, including rainforests.
Mangroves also serve as nursery areas for other ocean creatures, and they help keep
coasts secure by reducing flooding during storms."
So by all means… keep cutting down the mangroves, as long as rising temperatures, death by tsunami,
and dead fish don't seem like they'll affect your quality of life too much.
In addition to the destruction of the mangroves — a prime breeding ground for many types
of fish — shrimp production can dramatically impact fish populations in another notable
way.
Wild-caught shrimp is often harvested by trawling, the process by which giant nets are dragged
along the ocean floor to scoop up as many shrimp as possible.
That's kind of like catching a field mouse by burning your entire backyard to the ground.
While these nets may scoop up plenty of shrimp, they also tend to scoop up everything else,
in what fishermen refer to as "bycatch" — and the rest of us refer to as turtles, dolphins,
fish, and sharks.
"These nets have long been recognized as being highly destructive, non-discriminatory killers."
According to The New York Times, for every pound of shrimp caught, 3 to 15 pounds of
other marine life also end up in those nets.
But fish aren't the only living creatures being affected by the ever-booming shrimp
industry…
"Thai authorities insist that work is being done to tackle the horrific abuses that pervade
their hugely profitable fishing industry."
In spite of attempts by the government in Thailand to curb the human rights abuses that
seem to go hand-in-hand with the shrimping industry, a 2018 article by The Guardian indicates
that the situation hasn't improved much.
According to Brad Adams, director of Human Rights Watch in Asia:
"Forced labor is routine.
The workers we interviewed described being trafficked on to ships, trapped in jobs they
couldn't leave, physical abuse, lack of food, long hours and awful working conditions.
The worst thing for many of them was not being paid — the psychological harm and final
indignity was the hardest to bear."
"These are things like retention of documents, debt bondage, excessive overtime, withholding
of wages.
Where you have those conditions, you've got forced labor."
In its original investigation of the Thai shrimping industry, The Guardian described:
"How many people in this room saw — with their own eyes — beatings taking place?
Almost everybody."
While Thailand continues to work on its shrimping slavery problem, it seems like the least we
can do as American consumers is avoid imported shrimp that lists Thailand as its country
of origin.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Mashed videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.