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(AP) NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Federal officials plan to ban sales of raw oysters harvested from the Gulf of Mexico unless the shellfish are treated to destroy potentially deadly bacteria - a requirement that opponents say could deprive diners of a delicacy cherished for generations.
The plan has also raised concern among oystermen that they could be pushed out of business.
The Gulf region supplies about two-thirds of U.S. oysters, and some people in the $500 million industry argue that the anti-bacterial procedures are too costly. They insist adequate measures are already being taken to battle germs, including increased refrigeration on oyster boats and warnings posted in restaurants.
About 15 people die each year in the United States from raw oysters infected with Vibrio vulnificus, which typically is found in warm coastal waters between April and October. Most of the deaths occur among people with weak immune systems caused by health problems like liver or kidney disease, cancer, diabetes, or AIDS.
"Seldom is the evidence on a food-safety problem and solution so unambiguous," Michael Taylor, a senior adviser at the Food and Drug Administration, told a shellfish conference in Manchester, N.H., earlier this month in announcing the policy change.
Some oyster sellers say the FDA rule smacks of government meddling. The sales ban would take effect in 2011 for oysters harvested in the Gulf during warm months.
"We have one man who's 97 years old, and he comes in here every week and gets his oyster fix, no matter what month it is," said Mark DeFelice, head chef at Pascal's Manale Restaurant in New Orleans. "There comes a time when we need to be responsible. Government doesn't need to be involved in this."
The anti-bacterial process treats oysters with a method similar to pasteurization, using mild heat, freezing temperatures, high pressure and low-dose gamma radiation.
But doing so "kills the taste, the texture," DeFelice said. "For our local connoisseurs, people who've grown up eating oysters all their lives, there's no comparison" between salty raw oysters and the treated kind.
A Gulf Coast oyster - or better still, a plate of a dozen oysters on the half-shell - is a delicacy savored for its salty, refreshing, slightly slimy taste. Some people add a drop of horseradish, lemon or hot sauce on top for extra zest.
Treated oysters are "not as bright, the texture seems different," said Donald Link, head chef and owner of the Herbsaint Bar and Restaurant in New Orleans.
"This is an area the government shouldn't meddle in," Link said. "What's next? They're going to tell us we can't eat our beef rare?"
Until the 1960s, raw oysters were rarely eaten in the summertime. (The old adage was never eat oysters in the months without an R in them.) But changes in harvest patterns and advances in refrigeration and post-harvest treatment have made the industry a year-round business. About three-fifths of the Gulf's oysters are harvested during the warm months.
The FDA is promoting a ban because high-risk groups are not heeding warnings about raw oysters, and millions of other people may not know they are vulnerable.
If federal officials require post-harvest treatment, they "will be ruining an industry that has been around for centuries," said Sal Sunseri, co-owner of P&J Oyster Co., a French Quarter oyster wholesaler.
"We've been doing this the same way since the 1920s," said his brother, Al Sunseri, as shuckers in rubber gloves worked their way through piles of raw oysters destined for oyster bars and restaurants. "We're located in the French Quarter. We're not going to get the permits we need to do post-harvest processing. We don't have the space for it."
In Plaquemines Parish, the Louisiana "boot" that juts into the Gulf south of New Orleans, 49-year-old oyster harvester Peter Vujnovich Jr. said the FDA was "totally out of its mind."
Croatian-Americans like him have been harvesting oysters for decades in the area's brackish bays and lakes. He said the ban added insult to injury after he spent tens of thousands of dollars upgrading his boats to meet recent refrigeration regulations.
The FDA contends treating oysters would not affect the taste and would save lives.
"Oysters that undergo post-harvest processing treatment will rarely pose a problem," Taylor said, "while those left untreated can have deadly consequences."
The FDA cited California as the best example. In 2003, California banned untreated Gulf Coast oysters and since then "the number of deaths dropped to zero." By comparison, between 1991 and 2001, 40 people died in California from the infection.
The rule would not affect oysters harvested outside the Gulf. Oysters are harvested up and down the West and East coasts, but the bacteria is not found in such high concentrations there.
Some in the industry, especially the handful of companies that have invested in high-tech treatment technology, praise the FDA plan.
John Tesvich of AmeriPure Processing Co. in Franklin, La., said the industry has "suffered from all the negative publicity" associated with Vibrio vulnificus. He said his oysters, which are treated in a warm bath, taste as good as any others. "We have thousands and thousands of satisfied customers."
But most of the oyster industry is worried.
Anita Grove, executive director of the Apalachicola Bay Chamber of Commerce in Florida, said a ban would be crushing. She said oyster harvesters, shuckers, truckers and dealers are "the backbone to our economy. It's always been that way."
Avery Bates, vice president of the Organized Seafood Association-Alabama, predicted two-thirds of Alabama's 50 "mom-and-pop oyster shops" would close, mostly because of the cost of treating oysters.
"We see more people die each year from peanuts, chicken, E. coli, beef," he said. "It's like singling out a certain section of the food industry."
granted it's only during warm months, but this is getting a bit ridiculous. Isn't it by personal choice that they eat them raw. No personal accountability whatsoever even when there are warnings everywhere that sells them
15 PEOPLE DIE EVERY YEAR!?!!?!?!?! Do these incompetant idiots realize that more people die every year by choking on lettuce!!?!?? This is insane!!!! Has anyone else had enough Big Brother?
Why does the government do everything in its power to screw the little guys? Oyster farmers (more than 15) who spent their lives to build and rig their boats to be successful farmers would be crushed by this bill.
15?? Well, now, we're going to have to put a snake-dentist commission in Washington to pass regs that'll de-fang rattlesnakes to make THEM safer.... and who will pay? Why, all campers and hikers, of course!
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Rick
VOR ocean race Hooter Scooter
28' Chaparral BR (SOLD)
42' Post SF (SOLD)
temporarily boatless...
This is absolutely insane. If millions can choose to smoke, why can't I choose to eat an oyster? There's already a warning on nearly every menu I see that serves raw shellfish, so it's not like I'm not making an informed decision.
That is how they destroyed the lobster industry. The put out warnings at strategic time frames when it will discourage the public from buying. They have put out continued warnings over years at peek harvest times and or typical months people love to buy oysters eliminating the market. Here in Ma, the state put places for bicycles to wait for traffic light changes right in the middle of the road. It seems like sometimes they don't want people in harms way and sometimes they do. I'm sure there are more people killed on bicycles here in Ma than from some oysters and yet byclesist get no warnings. Caution waiting where we want you to can and probably will get you injured or killed someday....
Unreal. If the FDA can't even insure the safety of the imported seafood why screw with domestic seafood. This is insane. What's next!
I really eat a lot of oysters but prefer mine steamed. I'm surrounded by thousands of acres of once cultivate beds. These beds were worked for generations but the Joyner family and around 1985 some wise bureacrat decided that the bacteria levels were to high and shut the beds down which they remain shut down today. While against the law I've gathered and eatin these oysters every year since. Where I get mine are from a state park inlet that the nearest home is close to 5 miles away. This may be foolish on my part but if the Atlantic Ocean becomes polluted to the point I can't eat and oyster from it I don't want to be here anyway!
Posted about this in another thread but here goes again with a shorter version. The F.D.A. has been taking so much heat lately for thier inability to inshure the safety of our food supply, that they need a win. Allowing them to show the vast majority of people, most of whom have never and will never eat a raw oyster, that they are doing something. How better than to go after a small industry that has neither the political clout or the financial resources to fight back. Seems to be the way we are governed any more, create a perceived emergency and react to it, while ignoring the real issues that may be to politicly sensitive, or impact thier ability to raise campain funds. Both parties are equaly quilty of this.
Well this was not much shorter.
p.s. Never in my 56 years known any one to get sick from eating raw oysters, cant say this for numerous other foods.
I really eat a lot of oysters but prefer mine steamed. I'm surrounded by thousands of acres of once cultivate beds. These beds were worked for generations but the Joyner family and around 1985 some wise bureacrat decided that the bacteria levels were to high and shut the beds down which they remain shut down today. While against the law I've gathered and eatin these oysters every year since. Where I get mine are from a state park inlet that the nearest home is close to 5 miles away. This may be foolish on my part but if the Atlantic Ocean becomes polluted to the point I can't eat and oyster from it I don't want to be here anyway!
Isn't it a major part of a oyster life cycle to filter and remove bacteria from ocean water? Isn't that like shutting down a oil well because it produces oil.....
Isn't it a major part of a oyster life cycle to filter and remove bacteria from ocean water? Isn't that like shutting down a oil well because it produces oil.....
What are these guys thinking. Isn't Osoma supposed to appoint a "Oyster Czar" first to assess the situation prior to stripping us of our right to eat food?
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Was Reel Fishaholic. Asked for an account name change, got my account deleted. Where did my WHEEL go?
Killer&Griller on channel 6 out of the Cape Fear River.....
Raw oyster ban...
