In the case of shrimp caught in Indonesian waters and processed for export, the detected Cs-137 in 2025 did not originate from the ocean water or bioaccumulation in live shrimp during fishing. Instead, contamination occurred during post-harvest processing due to an industrial accident.
Source of Contamination
A metal scrapyard and smelter (PT Peter Metal Technology) in the Cikande Modern Industrial Area, Banten province (near Jakarta on Java Island), inadvertently processed scrap metal containing a Cs-137 source—likely a lost or orphaned radioactive device (common in industrial gauges or medical equipment).
During smelting, the cesium (possibly as cesium chloride) volatilized at high temperatures, becoming airborne as fine particles or gas.
These particles spread via wind over a short distance (less than 2 km) and settled as dust on nearby facilities, including the shrimp processing and packaging plant of PT Bahari Makmur Sejati (BMS Foods).
The contamination affected frozen shrimp products during handling, packing, or storage in the facility, not the shrimp themselves while alive in the sea.