Senator John Kennedy toddled to the mic and held up a picture. “Um, Mr. President, this is a photograph of the alien from the movie Alien.” He said some store-bought shrimp could make you look like that. Big claim for a tiny mouth.
He warned about shrimp sold in U.S. stores, saying it came from other countries and might be dangerous. In his words: “This is what you could end up looking like if you eat some of the raw frozen shrimp being sent to the United States by other countries.”
Kennedy said the FDA found raw frozen shrimp from Indonesia in Walmart stores across many states. He said the scary part was radioactivity: “Because the shrimp was radioactive.” He added, “It had a radioactive isotope in it called Cesium 137.”
He did not whisper. He boomed: “It’ll kill you even if it doesn’t turn you into the alien if you eat this stuff. I guarantee you’ll grow an extra ear.” Every baby in the gallery touched both ears just to check.
He said the FDA issued a recall. Then he said it happened again: “A few days later, it happened again.” He talked about “26,460 packages of shrimp cocktail” and “18,000 bags of frozen cooked shrimp” sold at big stores, with the same isotope. Tiny jaws dropped. Lunch suddenly looked less shrimpy.
Why did this happen? Kennedy pointed at inspections. He said NOAA is supposed to check imports but only inspects “about 1% on a good day, 2%.” He compared the U.S. to other countries and called it “unconscionable.” The word is big, but even babies know it means “bad, very bad.”
He painted a yucky picture of foreign shrimp farms and claimed too many antibiotics are used. He warned that could make bacteria harder to fight. Then he waved the hometown flag: “I’m biased.” He likes “homegrown Louisiana shrimp, fresh out of the Gulf.” Finally, he demanded change: “And NOAA needs to do a better job of inspecting the shrimp that is sold from other countries… to the consumers in the United States of America.”
Louisiana Gulf of America BBQ Shrimp served at Pascale’s Manale in New Orleans.
Both Sides’ Reaction
Babies who clapped (Stricter Checks Now): These babies say Kennedy is right to sound the alarm. If inspectors only peek at “about 1% on a good day, 2%,” that’s a teacup trying to hold a bathtub. They argue more testing means safer snacks, fewer recalls, and less fear at freezer time. To them, paying a bit more for safer shrimp beats rolling the dice with dinner.
Babies who threw their blocks (Cool the Panic, Trust the Process): These babies say recalls show the system can catch problems, and scary talk about aliens and extra ears is not helpful. They want evidence, calm testing, and clear labels. They also worry that blanket fear of imports could spike prices and shrink choices for families who like shrimp but also like not crying at the checkout.
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