2023-12-28 05:11:42
A few days before New Year’s Eve, this comes at a bad time. Oysters from the Arcachon basin were declared temporarily banned for sale following “several cases of collective food poisoning”announced the Gironde prefecture, in a press release published Wednesday, December 27 in the evening. “The symptoms are those of acute gastroenteritis and no serious cases have been reported to date”the authorities said.
“Investigations carried out by health services show that the ingestion of oysters contaminated by norovirus is the cause, which is confirmed by analyzes carried out on oysters farmed in the Arcachon basin”the State Secretariat for the Sea said in a press release on Thursday.
In consultation with health organizations, the prefecture has therefore temporarily banned fishing, harvesting and marketing activities intended for human consumption of all shellfish from the Arcachon basin, including the Banc d’Arguin. “As of today, batches of shellfish harvested or fished in these areas must be withdrawn from sale. People who have shellfish from these areas are asked not to consume them and to return them to the point of sale.says the prefectural press release.
Of the 375 breeding sites in France, only four are closed, specifies the State Secretariat for the Sea. “All oysters currently on the market are therefore healthy and edible”he insists.
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The profession wonders “who will pay the bill”
This measure, which will be lifted “as soon as the health quality of the shellfish becomes fully satisfactory once more”primarily affects oyster farmers, whose production was to grace many tables on Sunday evening, for New Year’s Eve on December 31.
The profession says “victim of the saturation of wastewater and rainwater networks”which generates “overflows into the natural environment”contaminating production areas, according to a press release from the Arcachon Aquitaine Regional Shellfish Farming Committee (CRCAA). “Two months following the storms which destroyed several hectares of oyster farms on the Banc d’Arguin”professionals fear “an unprecedented economic crisis” and wonder “who will pay the bill”.
Oyster production in the area concerned is around 8,000 tonnes per year, or 10% of national production, according to the latest figures available from the CRCAA and Agreste, the statistics service of the Ministry of Agriculture. .
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