It’s time to grab a sun hat and shovel, or rake, and head to the beach to dig for clams or gather oysters. What could be a better summer outing? But time is of the essence. This season’s last chance for minus low tides, which are the best times to dig for shellfish or gather…
First off, yes, 2018 seems to be – and we are just 1/2 way into it – a very Big, Bad year for foodborne illnesses.
Second, I am not sure why.
It could be better surveillance by state, local and national health authorities utilizing cutting edge tools such as PFGE and WGS. It could be…
Fresh crabmeat, which surprisingly is still being exported from the failed socialist state of Venezuela, has sickened 12 people in three states and the District of Columbia with Vibrio parahaemolyticus infections. Four of the ill have required hospitalization.
The reason that the fresh crabmeat exports are at least somewhat of a surprise is that…
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) and the Massachusetts Department of Fish and Game’s Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) have announced a 14-day closure of oyster beds located in Duxbury Bay, Kingston Bay, Bluefish River, Back River, and Plymouth Harbor. This closure is due to two additional confirmed illnesses traced to oysters harvested from…
The Public Health Agency of Canada is collaborating with provincial public health partners, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and Health Canada to investigate 67 Canadian cases of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infections in British Columbia and Alberta linked to raw shellfish. The majority of the illnesses have been linked to the…
Health officials in Vancouver, British Columbia, are requiring area restaurants to cook oysters harvested in that province before serving them. Only oysters harvested outside of British Columbia may be served raw at this time, according to a statement issued Aug. 12 by Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH). 
Public health ordered this step in response to an …
(This article by Liz Bradshaw, a postdoctoral research scholar in NoroCORE, the Norovirus Collaborative for Outreach, Research, and Education based at NC State, is the fifth in a series leading up to April 7, when the World Health Organization celebrated World Health Day, focusing this year on food safety. The first article in the…
Why wait for people to get sick from a foodborne illness when you can prevent it from happening in the first place? Sounds logical enough. At least that’s the thinking behind a plan focusing on the pathogen Vibrio parahaemolyticus, which can infect oysters in some growing areas during the summer. If adopted, the proposal…
Confirmation that shellfish from Samish Bay in northwest Washington state was the source of at least one illness, and possibly three others, caused by the bacterium Vibrio parahaemolyticus, has prompted the state’s health department to close commercial oyster harvesting in the bay until Sept. 30.
According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, Vibrio …
King County, WA, residents are being warned not to consume raw or undercooked shellfish after more than twice the usual number have been sickened this summer by Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection. There were 14 confirmed or probable cases of Vibrio infection, known as Vibrosis, reported in July, compared to the average of four for that month…
The Connecticut Department of Agriculture is recalling its Cape Neddick/Blue Point Oysters for potential Vibrio parahaemolyticus contamination. The recalled oysters were sold at various New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut Wegmans stores. They were labeled with the following UPC codes: 2-06146-00000, 2-06152-00000, 2-06153-00000. The recalled oysters were sold in Wegmans seafood…
