[리얼푸드=육성연 기자] Oysters are a nutrient-rich food that is called ‘milk of the sea’, but it is also an ingredient that requires caution when consumed.
At the end of July, a 40-year-old man who ate raw Louisiana oysters at a restaurant in Florida, USA, was diagnosed with Vibrio sepsis and died, and a similar accident occurred in 2018. Vibrio sepsis is an acute sepsis caused by the bacteria Vibrio, which mainly occurs when raw seafood is eaten.
In Korea, high school students who shared raw oysters in 2018 were infected with norovirus and contracted food poisoning. In an inspection conducted by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in April, 7 cases of raw oysters were detected with norovirus above the standard.
Raw oysters infected with bacteria, those with weakened immune systems are at greater risk
There are various causes such as Vibrio sepsis, Salmonella, and norovirus. Vibrio infection occurs between May and October when the water temperature rises, and norovirus food poisoning occurs most from November to March of the following year. In other words, in the case of raw oysters, it is important to pay attention to the safe intake of raw oysters not only in summer but also in winter. From September to December, the intake of seasonal oysters increases and the temperature is low, so it is easy to be vigilant in management.
Recently, an increase in the temperature of seawater due to the climate crisis is also pointed out as a factor that increases the microbial infection. In response to the news of the live oyster accident, infectious disease expert Professor Fred Lopez told local media that “the climate crisis can not only prolong the period of microbial infection, but also expand its geographic scope.”
Raw oysters infected with fungus are deadly to people with poor health. Raw oysters contaminated with bacteria can cause only mild symptoms such as diarrhea to healthy people, but can cause life-threatening blood infections in people with diabetes, liver or kidney disease, or a weak immune system. In the high-risk group, the fatality rate of Vibrio sepsis reaches 50%.
Lemon juice is not the solution · ‘Cooking’ must be heated
But there’s nothing wrong with oysters. The problem is management and recipe. Commercially available oysters are not a problem as long as proper care and recipes are followed. In the case of norovirus, it survives sub-zero weather, but it has a fatal disadvantage that it is weak to ‘heat’. Therefore, the safest way to eat oysters is to cook them as much as possible. You can enjoy various cooked menu items such as oyster soup, oyster jeon, and oyster stew, and it is delicious even when cooked with ingredients that go well with oysters, such as garlic and butter.
There are also oysters that must be heated and eaten, not ‘preferably’. Raw oysters are classified into ‘raw food’ and ‘heating/cooking use’. If there is a mark on the product packaging of peeled oysters such as ‘heat cooking’ or ‘cooked’, be sure to heat at 85℃ for at least 1 minute. Should be.
Learn how to choose fresh oysters. For ‘shelled oysters,’ it is better to keep your mouth tightly closed and put it in a clean tank, or have seawater in the shell. For ‘peeled oysters’, choose ones with a milky color and a clear black border. Fresh oysters are thick eggs, plump and elastic.
When washing, soak the peeled oysters in salt water for 10 minutes and then wash, or dissolve radish juice with water and leave for 5 minutes to help remove foreign substances. When eating raw oysters, lemon juice is used only to remove fishy smell and enhance flavor because it cannot kill norovirus bacteria.
From an early age, oysters have been known as a food that helps skin beautification and physical strength. As it is rich in minerals and vitamins such as calcium, iron, and iodine, it is a good food for growing children and patients in recovery.
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