FDA continues plans to ban raw oysters

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is continuing its plans to ban the sale of traditional, raw Gulf Coast oysters and may even be expanding their plans to include East and West Coast oysters and clams.

The FDA announced last year that it planned to ban the sale raw Gulf Coast oysters from May through October each year as a way to protect immune compromised people from the naturally occurring Vibrio Vulnificus bacterium. The proposal caused an uproar from consumers, restaurant owners and seafood workers who said the ban was not only an attack on peoples’ right to eat what they choose but also an attack on a way of life that has lasted for generations.

Many oyster lovers are also concerned that FDA is not conducting a thorough and scientific cost/benefit analysis of the proposed Oyster Ban, and on March 15th a bipartisan group of six U.S. Senators and 12 Congressmen issued a letter asking the U.S. Government Accountability Office to do a detailed analysis of the proposed rule, which could eliminate thousands of jobs along the Gulf Coast.

The FDA proposal was also rejected by the national shellfish rulemaking group, the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Commission, last year and was rejected again in early March when FDA officials made clear they have no intention of backing off the plan.

In fact the FDA is considering expanding the Gulf Oyster Ban to include clams as well as raw shellfish from the East and West Coasts.

Bob Rheault, director of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association said “FDA appears to be intent on regulating all raw shellfish just to protect a small group of susceptible people who have unique health complications,” adding that “These immune compromised individuals should not be eating any raw foods.”

Kevin Begos the Franklin County (FL) Oyster & Seafood Task Force noted that environmental groups have also begun raising concerns about the FDA plan. Begos said “The Gulf Coast oyster community provides more than 10,000 jobs in total, but it also has priceless cultural and environmental value,” “Hurting this natural, sustainable fishery makes no scientific, environmental, or public policy sense.”


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