Inspectors in the US discovered shipments of prawns and Nike branded sneakers emitting faint traces of man-made radiation, leading to an investigation that traced the source to a factory park outside Jakarta, Indonesia.

Radioactive Cesium-137 had been released into the air from a small smelter processing scrap metal, contaminating more than 20 factories, including those producing shrimp and shoes for brands like Nike and Adidas.

The incident has raised concerns about Indonesia’s oversight of its growing scrap-metal trade and the potential for radioactive material to enter the export network, with investigators working to determine the cause of the contamination and prevent future incidents.

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