Shellfish Sanitation

Shellfish sanitation is the regulatory control of bivalve molluscan shellfish (oysters, clams, mussels) to prevent foodborne illness, since filter feeders concentrate pathogens and biotoxins from their waters. In the United States the National Shellfish Sanitation Program, a cooperative run by the FDA, the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference, the states, EPA, and NOAA, sets the framework. States classify growing waters by sanitary survey and fecal-coliform results, control harvest by area status, and require depuration or relay where indicated; harmful algal blooms trigger closures for biotoxins such as those behind paralytic shellfish poisoning. States enforce the NSSP Model Ordinance as the minimum standard for interstate commerce.