FDA Issues Oyster Recall – What Does That Mean for Louisiana?

The Food and Drug Administration has issued a consumer product recall on a delicacy that is an absolute favorite in Louisiana. Louisiana's oyster industry generates about $300 million for the coast economy of Vermilion, Cameron, Iberia, St. Mary, and other parishes along our Gulf Coast. It's estimated that oysters are responsible for some 4,000 jobs in Louisiana. 

Then if you consider the impact of oysters on Louisiana's culinary and restaurant scene the numbers get even bigger. It has been estimated that between 30% and 40% of the nation's oysters come from Louisiana producers. So yes, oysters have been, are, and will continue to be big business in Louisiana.

The concern that prompted the recall by the Food and Drug Administration is norovirus. It is difficult to detect if oysters have been infected with norovirus because there is no distinct difference in the way they look the way they smell, or even the way they taste. The effects of the virus come after it has been consumed.

Most people have a mild to severe gastric reaction when exposed to norovirus. Which is a nice way to say you could be "running from both ends". Still, those with compromised immune systems or on immunotherapy treatments could suffer severe symptoms and in some cases, norovirus can be deadly.

It is important that if you have consumed oysters, especially oysters from areas affected by this FDA recall you seek medical attention and report your symptoms to a healthcare professional or the Louisiana Department of Health.

Based on the findings of the current FDA Recall Advisory, no oyster beds or production facilities in Louisiana or along Louisiana's coastline are included in the recall. The recall, as of early this morning, was focused on oysters from a different body of water, not the Gulf of Mexico.

So, your oyster po-boy is good to go and so are your grilled oysters and your oysters on the half-shell as long as they didn't come from Hammersly Inlet in the Pacific Northwest. The FDA believes distribution of the "bad oysters" was limited to that part of the country but there are concerns that some other parts of the nation could have received shipments.

So, I think we are good. But if you do go out for a seafood dinner anytime this year please ask your waitstaff this one question for me, "Where does your seafood come from"? Then ask for proof. The one way we can protect the quality of our seafood and our fishing families is to demand locally caught and locally sourced products.

Or you could have a burger.