Bad news for oyster lovers. As the New Year approaches, all oysters from the Arcachon basin are prohibited for sale. Explanations.
It’s almost the New Year! But oysters will not be on the menu! Indeed, oysters from the Arcachon basin are temporarily prohibited for sale. This Wednesday, December 27, the Girond prefecture announced the presence of “several cases of collective food poisoning”. In this press release, the prefecture specifies that “the symptoms are those of acute gastroenteritis and no serious cases have been reported to date. And oysters from the Arcachon basin are in question. However, further traceability investigations are underway.
The first analyzes detected the presence of norovirus on farmed oysters in the region. As a result, fishing, harvesting and marketing activities for all shellfish from the Arcachon basin are temporarily prohibited. “As of today, batches of shellfish harvested or fished in these areas must be withdrawn from sale. Persons who hold shellfish from these areas are asked to not to consume them and to return them to the point of sale”, indicates the prefectural press release.
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Contaminated oysters: oyster farmers worried
A big shortfall for oyster farmers who were counting on the end-of-year holidays to increase their turnover. The ban will be lifted “as soon as the health quality of the shellfish becomes fully satisfactory again”. In a press release from the Arcachon Aquitaine Regional Shellfish Farming Committee (CRCAA), the profession says “victim of the saturation of wastewater and rainwater networks”, which causes “overflows in the natural environment” and therefore contaminates production areas.
This contamination of oysters occurs “two months after the storms which massacred several hectares of oyster beds on the Banc d’Arguin”. “After the storms, a health crisis… an unprecedented economic crisis will affect the profession”, fears the Committee. As a reminder, the production of oysters from the Arcachon basin is around 8,000 tonnes per year. Which represents 10% of national production, according to figures from the CRCAA and Agreste.
Passionate about women’s news, Agathe has been deciphering the latest trends for aufeminin since 2022. Her favorite areas? Psychology, nutrition and well-being advice, without forgetting the tips…