A pair of Houma, Louisiana, U.S.A. residents were cited by local authorities for failing to refrigerate their oyster catch in a timely manner.
According to the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF), enforcement agents were patrolling Four League Bay when they spotted Raul Cardenas Calderon, 23, and Luis Angel Perez-Macedo, 29, harvesting oysters from a vessel. The agents made contact and conducted an inspection, which uncovered 17 sacks of white tagged oysters intended for raw consumption. The oysters had not been refrigerated in the three hours since they had been harvested, despite state law requiring white tagged oysters to be refrigerated under 45 degrees within an hour of harvest.
The 17 sacks of oysters were seized and returned to the water.
The two subjects face a violation of the sanitation code that carries a fine of up to USD 950 (EUR 834).
