The Florida Department of Agriculture has postponed a public hearing in Apalachicola to discuss new time and temperature rules that could impact the local oyster industry beginning this summer.
The hearing was scheduled to be held on Friday at the Apalachicola Community Center but state officials said they have decided to postpone the hearing for at least two weeks to give them time to meet with industry stakeholders.
Over the next few weeks workers with the Department of Agriculture will hold face to face meetings with oyster harvesters and dealers to get their opinions on the proposed rules before rescheduling the hearing on the issue.
The Gulf Coast oyster industry is under strong pressure from the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Commission and the Food and Drug Administration to decrease the already low numbers of people that die every year from eating raw oysters containing a naturally occurring bacterium called Vibrio Vulnificus.
The bacterium is harmless to most people, but can be deadly to people with pre-existing conditions like liver disease or cancer.
Currently about 30 people a year get sick from Vibrio and about 15 die nationwide – almost all of them are people with pre-existing conditions that makes them susceptible from disease from any raw protein.
Under the proposals that the state is now considering, oystermen who harvest oysters that will be served raw will have to be off the water by 1 o’clock in April, May, October and November.
They will have to be off the water by noon in June and September and by 11 AM in July and August.
From December through March oystermen will be allowed to work until dark.
The proposals do not allow for on-board cooling systems
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