rethink eating shellfish

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070811/ap_on_he_me/oysters_warning;_ylt=Alp8Lh0Y.C4BtHT8Zj8MZh.s0NUE


FDA links oysters to bacterial illness


The Food and Drug Administration on Friday advised people not to eat raw oysters harvested in a particular area of Washington state, citing bacterial illnesses that have sickened at least six people in that state and California.

The state Department of Health closed the area associated with the vibriosis illness, the southern tip of the Hood Canal, and has asked commercial harvesters and dealers who obtained oysters from this area to recall them. Raw oysters from the area were distributed to California, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, New York, Oregon, Washington, Canada's British Columbia, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. Additional reports of illnesses are being investigated by the states, according to an FDA release.

Consumers who have recently purchased oysters should check with the place of purchase and ask if the oysters were harvested from the affected area. Symptoms of vibriosis, caused by the vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria, include diarrhea, abdominal cramps, nausea, vomiting, headache, fever and chills and usually appear within 24 hours after eating the oysters. Severe disease is rare and occurs mostly in people with compromised immune systems.
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...no more shrimp cocktail for me.

Having been there... I have no desire to eat food from there.

since they're eating all the gross runoff from Katrina

it's all pretty scary.... I've gone -mostly- Veg and even then,
who knows what you're getting... e coli spinach... poisoned gluten... ACK !!!!!

Basically they are trying to raise ocean fish/shellfish in the smallest/highest density environments as possible (to maximize profits.) It's like they are being raised in a toilet. Only wild-caught fish for me! And with the state of the oceans, even that is suspect. There are certain foods I really like to much to give up completely but I think vegans have it about right, in general, given the filthy state our food production system is in (ESPECIALLY China.)

Recently I was making a stir-fry and my daughter asked if I could put some water chestnuts in, but ALL the canned water chestnuts were produced in china so I said forget it...they are packed in water and the water there can be pretty scary.

I always heard you should only eat shellfish harvested in months that have an "R". August is not one of them. May, June, July, August are bad for some reason (warmer weather >>> more infectious disease/contamination problems).

"....Consumers who have recently purchased oysters...."

The flavor and texture aren't as good.

The warning is for oysters harvested at an area near Hood Canal. This is an area that has had oxygen depletion problems; lots of fish and other invertabrates have had population crashes. There is a lot of runoff from surrounding properties... lots of lawn fertilizers and other crap in the water.

I'd still eat them from most other areas, but stay away from these until they test OK again. Been eating them raw for 40+ years, and never had a problem at all.

at a good local restaurant I trust.

The owners of the oyster farms are going to have a more controlled setting than wild conditions. Same as rabbits, farmed don't have the boil problems wild ones do. The people who ate these oysters may not have stored them properly, it is likely it didn't have anything to do with the farming process at all.

:shrug:

... We have no moral high ground from which to criticize the media for its distortions when this kind of bullshit is allowed to pass uncriticized.

... the remains being washed down my gullet by cow's milk.

And I think to myself: Self, this is GOOD.

you'll also be thinking about it, right?

Meanwhile, exploitation of animal-life is naturally doing harm to us in more ways than HEALTH --
it is polluting the earth, our water, rivers, streams.

There is nothing that man has touched which is not exploited and destroyed.

They obey the Old Testament dietary prohibitions... He made a pretty good scientific case for them...

:)