Quality shrimp

My Cajun girlfriend makes a great shrimp étouffée. The boys and I love it but I heard not long ago that a lot of shrimp coming out of Asia might have been grown in less than ideal conditions. I turned to Dr. Ron Hardy, Director of UI’s Aquaculture Research Institute. “I heard that great amounts of shrimp, imported to this country, are grown in less than ideal conditions as in sewage laden water. Is that true? No. But there have been problems with the quality of shrimp coming from some countries in Southeast Asia. That is mainly post harvest handling issues. Shrimp are quite delicate creatures. They are very much dependent on high-quality water and a high quality environment in order to thrive and grow. So they are grown in conditions where the water quality is very tightly managed. Nowadays they are grown and systems that are actually closed. Ponds are filled with water, cleaned up a little bit and seated with nutrients to make a bloom so to speak and the water goes round and round and ask like its own little ecosystem. If there is anything out of order, it is a catastrophe. The shrimp won't thrive. So shrimp coming from farming are a pretty good quality product.