The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a change to the common name "brown king crabmeat," derived from Lithodes aequispinus. Effective May 3, 2018, the common and usual name for crabmeat previously described as "brown king crabmeat" has been changed to “golden king crabmeat.” The compliance date for the changes is January 1, 2020.
Tag Archives fish/shellfish
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced its intention to delay a 2011 ban on raw oysters harvested from the Gulf of Mexico during warm weather months. FDA heard from “Gulf Coast oyster harvesters, state officials, and elected representatives from across the region about the feasibility of implementing post-harvest processing or other equivalent controls” designed to reduce illnesses from bacteria like Vibrio vulnificus. “It is clear to FDA from our discussions to date that there is a need to further examine both the process and timing for large and small oyster harvesters to gain access to processing facilities or equivalent controls in order to address this important public health goal,” stated the agency, which will conduct an independent study to assess how bacteria controls can be “feasibly implemented in the fastest, safest and most economical way.” FDA specifically noted that it will (i) continue to collaborate with the Interstate…
U.S. Senators Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) have introduced legislation seeking to block a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) proposal that would prohibit the distribution of raw oysters from the Gulf of Mexico during warm-weather months. “Specifically, the legislation, which was co-sponsored by Senator David Vitter (R-La.), would prevent [FDA] from using funds to implement a ban on sales of oysters that don’t undergo a sterilization process,” according to a November, 5, 2009, press release issued by Landrieu. Slated to take effect in 2011, the FDA plan would apparently require processing for Gulf oysters harvested between April and October. The agency has pointed to the risk that raw oysters can cause fatal Vibrio vulnificus infections in people with compromised immune systems, resulting in approximately 15 deaths per year. California has already enacted similar measures that bar the sale of untreated raw Gulf oysters in the state, which has…
The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has issued its annual Outbreak Alert! report, which claims that “a pound of fish and shellfish is 29 times more likely to cause illness than the safest food category, a pound of dairy foods.” According to CSPI, their database has tracked 1,140 foodborne illness outbreaks linked to fin fish, mollusks, and shrimp and lobsters. The group has attributed “a plurality of seafood outbreaks” to naturally occurring toxins such as scombrotoxin and ciguatoxin, but noted the impact of Vibrio bacteria and noroviruses. “Because foodborne illness is drastically underreported, because much foodborne illness does not occur in outbreaks, and because it is so difficult to prove which food caused an outbreak, CSPI’s data represents [sic] just the tip of the iceberg,” stated the watchdog in a November 25, 2008, press release. See FoodNavigator-USA.com, November 26, 2008.
