You win some, you lose some.
The Shellfish Association of Great Britain (SAGB) has put considerable effort over the past few years into production of its oyster-tasting guides, which encourage consumers to be more adventurous about eating oysters grown all around the British Isles.
Loch Fyne Oysters has also devoted time and money to marketing the bivalve that made the company famous. Its latest promotion in November offered a free oyster to all 21 year olds in celebration of the company’s 21st birthday.
Judith Vajk of Caledonian Oysters, Scotland’s largest oyster producer, spends weekends promoting and selling shellfish at farmers’ markets and has built up a large and loyal following.
So far, so good. Then, last week, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) published a study finding that more than three-quarters of UK-grown oysters contain norovirus, a highly infectious virus that’s the most common cause of diarrhea and vomiting in the UK.
“The timing is very bad as we are just entering one of the busiest times of the year,” said Vajk. “Our oysters are as safe today as they were yesterday, but consumers will think differently about them now.”
Virgina Sumsion, marketing manager for Loch Fyne, explained that the news didn’t have an immediate effect on customers, but the company is expecting it to impact Christmas orders.
Her colleague, aquaculture director David Attwood, said: “In the absence of any EU or UK standards and methods, Loch Fyne Oysters carries out extensive testing for the presence of norovirus in our raw oysters, and we have developed our own management strategy in collaboration with our local environmental health officer and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science in England to ensure they are safe to eat.”
The study in question tested more than 8,000 oysters from 39 different harvesting areas over a three-year period. It found norovirus in 76 percent of oysters, albeit mostly at low levels. However, a safe limit has not yet been established, and the FSA admitted that it was difficult to assess the potential health impact of the findings as its researchers could not differentiate between infectious and non-infectious norovirus material in the shellfish. The study’s results will be used to help UK authorities establish safe levels in shellfish across the European Union.
Norovirus gets into the sea from sewage, and, as oysters filter large volumes of water each day, they are at risk of being infected. However, oyster growers purify their shellfish before sale, and new techniques are being developed to make this process more effective at removing viruses. Growers are urging water companies to install better systems to remove viruses, but they are stalling due to the expense involved.
According to SAGB Director David Jarrad, oysters remain healthy, and he believes the benefits of eating them outweigh any minor risk. “Only a handful of people are infected with norovirus each year from eating oysters, compared to the 600,000-plus who catch it every year in the UK by other means, especially by manual transmission,” he said.
“Oysters are low in fat and calories, high in zinc, copper, iron, iodine and vitamins B12 and D, and just six native oysters provide 40 percent of the omega-3s needed each week by an adult. They are good for our bodies and our brains, and good to eat, too,” added Jarrad.
All producers can do now is ride out the storm and hope that British consumers do not develop an unnecessary fear of oysters. But we all know how powerful the media can be.
The day after the news broke, I was working in a school introducing children to Scottish seafood and encouraging them to try samples. They especially loved trout, salmon, mussels and smoked mackerel, and normally I can persuade a few to eat oysters. Not so on that day, as the news had reached them first.
“They’re not safe, miss. It said so on the TV,” said one child.
Back to the drawing board.
