After those from the Arcachon basin, oysters from Calvados, more precisely those produced in the areas of Grandcamp-Maisy and Géfosse-Fontenay, in the district of Bayeux, are “temporarily” prohibited for sale, decided the Calvados prefecture on Friday December 29. “No other production area in Calvados is concerned” specifies the prefecture in a press release.
This ban is motivated by the same reasons as those which led the prefecture of Gironde to take similar measures this week for oysters produced in the Arcachon basin, namely “cases of collective food poisoning”explained the Calvados prefecture. “The symptoms are those of acute gastroenteritis”, she clarified. THE “traceability investigations and analyzes carried out on farmed oysters indicate that contamination of the resulting oysters” of the sectors mentioned “is in question”depending on the prefecture.
The prefect of Calvados also prohibits “temporarily fishing, harvesting and marketing activities intended for human consumption of shellfish from the aforementioned areas”. “Consignments of shellfish harvested from these areas must be withdrawn from sale”added the prefecture.
Recreational fishing prohibited
In her press release, she also asks “people who have shellfish from these areas not to consume them and to return them to the points of sale” and also emphasizes that “Recreational shellfish fishing is also prohibited”.
These banning measures “will be lifted as soon as the health quality of the shellfish becomes fully satisfactory again”completes the prefecture.
These temporary bans are a hard blow for oyster farmers, because the end-of-year holidays are one of the main periods for oyster consumption.