I grew up in a place where seafood was more than just food. It was part of our cultural DNA. Every coastal community has its own traditions built around the sea. We eat what we catch. Fresh snapper grilled on the beach. Clams can be dug out by the dozen with your own hands. Oysters are sold straight from small boats to people on the beach. Local seafood is expected, not exotic.

So imagine my confusion when I moved to California. A state blessed with over 800 miles of coastline, and discovered that local seafood is surprisingly rare and EXPENSIVE. What’s worse, a lot of what’s available in stores and restaurants is imported. Including Chinese clams recently flagged for toxic contamination.

Why, I kept wondering, are we eating imported, potentially hazardous seafood in a region surrounded by ocean? Where is the local catch? Why don’t people here eat what’s right off their own coast?

The deeper I looked into it, the more complex the story became. What seems like a simple case of poor dietary choices turns out to be the result of distorted economic incentives, weak local seafood infrastructure, and a public whose tastes often lean more toward fast food than a freshly made paella or bowl of clam chowder, let alone one made with local clams instead of something from a can.

It’s not just a food systems issue. It’s cultural, political, environmental, and bad economics. This article explores how we ended up eating toxic clams from across the world, while local fishermen struggle and coastal communities lose touch with their maritime roots.

Why Isn’t Local Seafood on Our Plates?

It’s a question that should have a simple answer. California has a long coastline, vibrant ocean ecosystems, and historical fishing communities. So where’s all the local seafood?

The truth is, very little of what’s caught off the U.S. coast actually stays here, especially in places like California. A surprising amount is exported to countries where there’s stronger demand and willingness to pay higher prices, namely China, Japan, and Europe. Meanwhile, much of the seafood consumed in the U.S. is imported, with a significant share coming from China and Southeast Asia.

Why? Because of a combination of broken supply chains, skewed consumer preferences, and twisted economics.

1. The Global Export Problem

While the U.S. exports a large amount of high-quality seafood like lobster, squid, and wild-caught fish, it imports lower-cost, processed seafood to meet local demand. The paradox is stark: wild American scallops go to Europe, while frozen tilapia and farmed shrimp from Asia fill supermarket freezers here, yuck!

Even U.S.-caught fish often makes a round trip: it’s sent to China to be processed, then shipped back for sale in U.S. grocery stores, because processing is cheaper abroad.

2. Lack of Local Infrastructure and Culture

Another factor is that many coastal regions, particularly in Southern California, have lost their local fisheries infrastructure. Ports like San Pedro and Long Beach once supported thriving fishing fleets. Now they’re dominated by cargo shipping operations, while commercial fishing has been pushed out or heavily restricted due to environmental regulations and development pressure. Heavy environmental regulations are also impacting smaller fisheries in Del Norte County.

Meanwhile, local seafood isn’t easy to find. Unlike in the Caribbean or Mediterranean, it’s rarely sold dockside or in neighborhood markets. Distribution systems favor large processors and imported bulk products. Local fisheries in farmers’ markets are never seen as in the Caribbean or Mediterranean countries.

At the same time, there’s no strong local seafood culture in many U.S. cities. In places like Los Angeles or San Francisco, eating fresh fish is more often a luxury than a routine. Many Americans simply don’t grow up cooking seafood at home, and few would think to seek out fresh-caught squid, sardines, or small halibut from local boats. Instead, they buy frozen fish sticks or eat fried shrimp baskets from chain restaurants.

There’s more of a market for fast food than there is for something like paella, fresh ceviche, or homemade clam chowder. When people do buy clams, they’re often from a can, and increasingly, those clams come from China.

The Hidden Danger: Toxic Clams from China

As if the situation weren’t frustrating enough, the Chinese seafood that’s quietly made its way into our food supply has recently been exposed for a much more serious problem: toxic contamination.

In early 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a public warning and imposed Import Alert 99-48, effectively banning clams from eight Chinese seafood processors after extensive testing revealed high levels of PFAS chemicals, also known as “forever chemicals.”

These substances, especially PFOA, are industrial pollutants used in nonstick coatings, water-repellent fabrics, and firefighting foams. They don’t break down in the environment or the human body and are linked to a laundry list of health issues:

• Cancer (kidney, testicular)
• Hormonal and immune system disruption
• Liver and kidney damage
• Birth defects and fertility problems

What’s alarming is that in the FDA’s multi-year testing project (2022–2024), every single sample of processed Chinese clams tested positive for PFAS, with many showing levels far above the safety threshold. PFOA was detected in 100% of the samples. In comparison, clams tested from domestic U.S. sources (like those sold in Washington, D.C.) had levels below the detection limit.

Despite this, these contaminated clams had already made it into the U.S. food system, sold in supermarkets, served in restaurants, and potentially consumed by millions.

Why Are These Clams Still Showing Up on Shelves?

Because they’re cheap.

Chinese seafood, especially farmed shellfish, is extremely price-competitive. It’s often the lowest-cost option for bulk buyers, restaurant suppliers, and even schools and government food programs. Many consumers have no idea they’re eating imported seafood, let alone that it may be contaminated.

In some cases, Chinese seafood is even repackaged in the U.S. and sold under “American-sounding” brand names, making it harder to trace the true origin. Unless you read the fine print or specifically seek out locally sourced shellfish, chances are good you’ve eaten seafood from Chinese waters, possibly even toxic clams.

The Real Risk: Filter Feeders and Bioaccumulation

Clams, mussels, and oysters are filter feeders. That means they draw in seawater to extract nutrients—and along with it, any pollutants, heavy metals, or chemicals present in their environment. PFAS, in particular, bioaccumulates in their tissues over time. This makes clams an especially risky seafood when raised in polluted waters, like many coastal regions in China known for high industrial runoff.

And yet, these are the clams we’re importing and eating. All while they tell us in places like in Del Norte County, CA that Razor Clam Fisheries were closed due to risk of contamination. But never mind toxic clams from China!

Are Tariffs Helping? A Trade War Doesn’t Solve a Broken System

Faced with rising concerns over unfair trade practices, environmental standards, and labor abuses, the U.S. has imposed a series of tariffs on Chinese seafood imports, especially during and after the Trump administration. At first glance, this might seem like a solution: tax the imports, make them more expensive, and create room for local seafood to thrive.

But it’s not that simple.

Tariffs Raise Prices—but Not Always for the Right Reasons

U.S. tariffs on seafood imports from China were raised to 10%–30% depending on the product, with clams, shrimp, and other shellfish among the hardest hit. The goal was to protect American fisheries from being undercut by cheap, poorly regulated imports.

And in some cases, it worked, temporarily.

Domestic shrimpers in Louisiana and Gulf states saw a small uptick in demand when prices on imported shrimp rose. But it wasn’t enough to reverse decades of industry decline or to scale up local alternatives. Many small fishing operations still struggle with aging fleets, high fuel costs, and lack of access to processing and distribution infrastructure.

Meanwhile, for consumers, the tariffs simply increased retail prices, without giving them better or safer options. Imported seafood remained dominant on grocery store shelves, just slightly more expensive than before.

The Demand Still Isn’t There

One of the bigger issues tariffs can’t fix is consumer behavior. The reality is that most Americans don’t eat much seafood, at least not compared to other cultures. On average, the typical U.S. consumer eats only about 16 pounds of seafood per year, compared to over 50 pounds in Japan or Portugal.

And when Americans do eat seafood, they overwhelmingly choose:

• Shrimp (often imported and farmed)
• Salmon (often from Chile or Norway)
• Canned tuna (increasingly from Southeast Asia)

There’s little widespread demand for fresh, locally caught fish, let alone clams, squid, or less familiar coastal species. So even if local fishers could compete on price, they’re still fighting an uphill cultural battle.

A Market Flooded with Subsidized Competition

It’s also worth noting that Chinese seafood prices aren’t just low because of cheap labor, they’re low because of state subsidies, weak environmental enforcement, and massive economies of scale. China has built one of the largest seafood export industries in the world, often by cutting corners.

That’s how you get $4 bags of frozen clams that traveled halfway around the world—and how they still end up in American supermarkets, even after tariffs are applied.

Bottom Line?

Tariffs are a blunt instrument. They may slow down the flood of toxic imports temporarily, but they don’t address the root issues:

• A broken domestic supply chain
• Lack of consumer education and demand for local seafood
• Weak traceability standards in seafood labeling
• And a U.S. seafood system that favors industrial-scale importers over small local fishers

Until those deeper issues are fixed, clams from China, PFAS and all, will continue to end up on American plates. This is just a fraction of the problem with our food supply and the great poisoning of American consumers.