For Consumers
Cooperative Program Ensures Safe Shellfish (slideshow)
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To learn more, read our Consumer Updates Cooperative Program Ensures Safe Shellfish and Cooperative Programs Help Keep Food Safe.
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Slide 1 An FDA shellfish specialist (left) and an inspector from the New Jersey Department of Health (center) look at a map of the growing waters where the clams in the foreground were harvested, while an industry worker prepares to rinse the clams. Because molluscan shellfish (such as clams, oysters and mussels) are often eaten raw or partially cooked, they can potentially cause illness in people. Through the National Shellfish Sanitation Program—a cooperative program between the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), state regulatory agencies, and the shellfish industry—risks associated with eating molluscan shellfish are significantly reduced. |
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Slide 2 Unlike crustacean shellfish (such as shrimp, crabs and lobsters), molluscan shellfish like these clams pump seawater through their digestive system to obtain nutrients and filter out tiny organisms. While pumping water, they can also take in bacteria, viruses, and chemicals, concentrating these contaminants in their bodies at much higher levels than found in the surrounding waters. The potential health risks of eating raw shellfish are often related to the quality of water from which they are harvested, and sanitation and temperature control after harvest. |
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Slide 3 Clams and other shellfish can be harvested legally from waters that are marginally polluted if they undergo cleansing, or “depuration,” in tanks of water disinfected by ultraviolet light before going to market. At the J.T. White Clam Depuration Plant in New Jersey, workers rinse the clams before they go into tanks for cleansing. The FDA shellfish specialist holds a test kit to check the levels of chlorine, which the plant uses to sanitize equipment surfaces. |
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Slide 4 The FDA shellfish specialist and the depuration plant operator examine a tag with important information about the clams being processed. As the clams sit in trays in a tank, ultraviolet light and circulating seawater are used to replicate the optimum natural environment of the shellfish and to provide a 48-hour disinfection. Under the highly controlled conditions, the live clams pump water through their bodies and purge themselves of harmful bacteria. |
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Slide 5 A state inspector takes the temperature of the water to make sure it is within the range required for the clams to pump efficiently to provide the cleansing required. The states take the lead in regulating the shellfish industry, while FDA monitors and evaluates the state programs and provides training and technical assistance. Through the cooperative shellfish program, the states’ oversight of industry and FDA’s oversight of the states help keep a high-risk product safe for consumers to eat. |
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Slide 6 The FDA shellfish specialist and the manager of New Jersey’s Food and Drug Safety Program read the digital output on the depuration plant’s electronic monitoring system. The system records the temperature, dissolved oxygen, water flow rate, ultraviolet light output and other information so that deficiencies can be noted and corrected immediately. |
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Slide 7 The creamy color of a cleansed clam contrasts with the gray color of a clam before cleansing. After each 48-hour cleansing process, a state-approved lab takes water samples and clam meat samples for testing to ensure they meet the required program standards before the shellfish are allowed to go to market. States may use private labs, which they regularly inspect, or they may operate their own labs. |
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Slide 8 The cleansed clams are rinsed and put on a conveyer that drops them into bags for shipping. The gap in the rollers allows small or broken clams to fall into a waste container. The state inspector (center) shows the plant’s meticulous records to the FDA shellfish specialist (left) and the manager of New Jersey’s Food and Drug Safety Program. With these detailed records, any illness from the shellfish can be traced back to the plant and the harvest area so that prompt actions can be taken to prevent further illnesses. |
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Slide 9 An FDA shellfish specialist and a shellfish monitor from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation check the shellfish growing waters in Raritan Bay, off Staten Island, from the state’s research boat. The cooperative program helps ensure shellfish safety by designating waters acceptable for harvesting, inspecting processing facilities to ensure sanitation, patrolling waters to deter illegal harvesters, and testing samples of water and shellfish meat in the laboratory. |
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Slide 10 In two-man boats, clam diggers and their helpers use long rakes to harvest clams. These clammers participate in New York state’s clam transplant program, which relocates clams from the marginally polluted waters of Raritan Bay to clean waters for bacterial cleansing and eventual marketing as food. This “natural cleansing” takes 3 weeks, in contrast to the 48-hour depuration process in a controlled environment. The harvesting is supervised by the state, with oversight from FDA. |
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Slide 11 The FDA shellfish specialist watches as the research vessel captain from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation dredges for clams and rinses off the debris before sending the samples to a laboratory for testing. The state regularly tests the water and clam meat in the marginally polluted waters and the clean waters to check the effectiveness of the natural cleansing process. |
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Slide 12 Harvested clams from Raritan Bay are bagged, tagged, and put on a conveyer for loading into the truck that will transport them to clean water for natural cleansing. The FDA shellfish specialist checks the tag for the proper identifying information. |
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Slide 13 Each bag of clams is tagged “For Cleansing Only” and can be traced to the clammer and the waters where harvested. Depleting the shellfish from the marginally polluted waters in a legal manner discourages illegal night-time clammers who would jeopardize public health by evading the cleansing process. |
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Slide 14 After the clams are loaded—255 70-pound bags in all—the truck operator closes and seals the vehicle with a tamper-evident tag. If the seal is broken before the truck reaches its destination, the state and FDA will investigate to make sure no clams are diverted to market before cleansing. |
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Slide 15 After the clams are trucked from Raritan Bay more than 100 miles away, they are loaded onto a boat early the next morning for planting in the clean waters of Little Peconic Bay, off Long Island. The FDA shellfish specialist monitors the state’s supervision of industry. |
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Slide 16 The clams are rinsed and sorted on the boat, with the smaller clams dropping through a gap in the rollers. Clammers are paid more for smaller clams, which are more tender and sweet and have a higher market value. The clams are lowered on racks in the water for the required 21-day cleansing period. |
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Slide 17 The owner of Coastal Farms Inc. hammers down a wire cover over the clams so they won’t be washed off the rack by waves once they are lowered into the bay. The three-tiered rack holds about 60 bushels of clams. The transplant program benefits the economy of both the state and the shellfish industry, which funds the state’s supervision of the program. In 2008, more than 23,000 bushels of clams were transplanted in New York waters with a wholesale value of more than $2 million. |
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Slide 18 The FDA shellfish specialist and a transplant monitor from the New York Department of Environmental Conservation watch as the clams that have been cleansing in the water for 21 days are hauled up. The clams are rinsed, bagged, and tagged for marketing. The state monitors the entire transplant operation, and FDA audits the state’s oversight. |
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Slide 19 Molluscan shellfish are tagged at various stages from harvest to market. Before going to fish markets, restaurants, or retail stores, bags of shellfish must be tagged to indicate where and when the shellfish were harvested. By law, businesses must keep these tags for 90 days after the shellfish are sold. Consumers can ask to see a tag before buying shellfish. Tagging allows traceback to help pinpoint the problem if someone gets ill from eating shellfish. In many cases, traceback has led to the closure of unsafe growing waters, recall of products harvested from those waters, and increased monitoring of those waters for illegal harvesting. |
