111. Product Recalls
The Economics of Everyday Things
Freakonomics Network
4.8 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 20 October 2025
⏱️ 23 minutes
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, Zach here. |
| 0:03.8 | Just wanted to ask for a small favor. |
| 0:06.0 | We're running a little survey to learn more about who you are and what you'd like to hear more of on this show. |
| 0:11.3 | It's totally anonymous. |
| 0:12.8 | It takes less than a minute to complete, and it'll really help us out. |
| 0:17.2 | You can find it at freekonomics.com slash everyday survey. |
| 0:22.9 | That's frekeonomics.com slash everyday survey. That's Freakonomics.com slash everyday survey, all one word. Okay, on with the show. |
| 0:31.6 | This past summer, millions of Americans were warned about an unusual problem in the frozen food aisle. |
| 0:43.3 | If you bought frozen shrimp from Walmart recently, we have an important and, yes, a strange warning. The shrimp may be radioactive. |
| 0:52.3 | Aquastar issued the voluntary recall after traces of radioactive material were found in shrimp |
| 0:58.0 | from an Indonesian supplier. |
| 1:00.0 | Or shrimp are being recalled because of radioactive contamination. |
| 1:03.0 | Seattle-based Aquastar expanded the recall yesterday to cover more than 100,000 bags of frozen shrimp. |
| 1:10.0 | Radioactive shrimp even made it into a congressional hearing. |
| 1:14.6 | The shrimp was radioactive. |
| 1:16.9 | If you eat this stuff, I guarantee you'll grow an extra ear. |
| 1:23.4 | Those fears ended up being a little overblown. |
| 1:27.4 | It turned out that the amount of radioactive material in the shrimp |
| 1:30.3 | was far below the threshold of what would be considered harmful. |
| 1:34.1 | And there was no evidence that the affected shrimp was ever even sold in U.S. stores. |
| 1:39.5 | But the FDA still decided to issue a recall. |
| 1:44.0 | Multiple retailers pulled shrimp products from store shelves, just in case. |
... |
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