FDA Oyster Ban Delayed! The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has delayed indefinitely a ban on the sale of raw oysters from the Gulf Coast during warmer months. According to the FDA, the proposed ban needs more study. FDA officials said in a statement:
“It is clear from our discussions to date that there is a need to further examine both the process and timing for large and small oyster harvesters to gain access to processing facilities.”
The FDA announced last month the proposed ban on processing all Gulf Coast oysters during warmer months to reduce the risk of Vibrio vulnificus, a bacteria in raw oysters that annually kills about 15 people in the United States and can cause kidney failure and excruciating pain, and lead to amputations.
Processing could include cooking, freezing or other steps to kill the oyster and reduce the risk of bacterial infection, the FDA said. Representatives of the oyster industry have said those steps would render oysters unmarketable.
UPI reported in October the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that oysters harvested from April to October in the Gulf of Mexico should be sterilized before they are sold.
The FDA plans to effectively ban the sale of raw oysters during the summer months, starting in 2011, The (New Orleans) Times-Picayune reported Wednesday. The proposed regulation is aimed at vibrio vulnificus disease, a deadly bacterial disease. About 30 cases a year are reported in the United States, with half the victims dying.
The FDA rule change, announced this month, has provoked howls of protest from New Orleans restaurant owners, fishing industry representatives and Louisiana state officials.
“It’s not only going to include raw oysters. You can’t fry oysters for a po-boy, you can’t put oysters in a gumbo and you can’t charbroil oysters unless they’re post-harvest processed,” said Tommy Cvitanovich, owner of Drago’s restaurant. “That’s ludicrous.”
Louisiana produces about one-third of the nation’s oysters, most of them shipped to other states. Mike Voisin, an oyster processor, called the FDA rules a “nuclear bomb” for the industry. (c) UPI
