Save Our Shellfish - Speak Out Against the FDA ban on Gulf Oysters

So far, 8351 petitioners have signed. Please join us!

In October, 2009 the U.S. Food & Drug Administration suddenly announced plans to ban the sale of traditional, raw Gulf Coast oysters for six or more months each year, starting in 2011.

We feel the FDA has no right to ban this pure, natural food, which millions of people enjoy each year without any ill effects. If the ban takes effect thousands of people in the Gulf Coast oyster community could lose their jobs – harvesters, shuckers and truck drivers, as well as thousands more who work in the restaurant and tourism industries.

The FDA suggests that Gulf Coast oysters be processed by radiation, freezing or pasteurization. We support the right of consumers to choose such products, but feel many people want – and have the right to – traditional raw oysters just as nature made them.

The FDA says the ban is necessary because about 15 people die each year from eating Gulf Oysters and other seafood which contain a naturally-occurring bacteria that causes no problem for the vast majority of people. Persons with a serious pre-existing health conditions, such as liver disease, cancer, AIDS or diabetes account for virtually all illnesses and deaths from raw oyster consumption.

Significant efforts to educate these at risk consumers to abstain from raw shellfish are ongoing. In addition the Gulf oyster community is in the process of implementing enhanced refrigeration requirements which should further reduce these already rare cases of illness while allowing for production and sale of the traditional harvest.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the natural oyster bacteria (Vibrio vulnificus) causes just 1/10 of one percent of the more than 5,000 annual foodborne deaths. In fact, more people are struck and killed by lightning in Gulf Coast states in an average year than die from eating oysters.

We ask the FDA to stop all plans to implement the Gulf Coast oyster ban, and instead work with the established shellfish regulation system to address public health concerns with improved refrigeration and education programs.

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