2023-12-23 12:06:50
While oyster farmers in Loire-Atlantique have been banned from selling oysters after cases of poisoning, the question of a more widespread health risk arises. Rest assured, there are numerous checks.
With lemon, vinegar with shallots or plain… Oysters will, like every year, be on the table of many homes for the end-of-year celebrations. However, the cases of poisoning linked to their consumption which occurred last week in Vendée raise questions. The cause: the heavy rainfall which affected several areas of the coast this year.
According to initial analyses, the food poisoning of around forty people is due to norovirus, a virus which is often found in shellfish and becomes dangerous when it reaches too high a rate.
“Norovirus is a virus brought by humans and which is found at sea, following spills from sewage treatment plants, lifting stations or soil washing,” recalls Frédéric Moulin, vice-president of the Regional Committee of shellfish farming in Pays de la Loire.
“The heavy rains which fell on several coastal areas increase this risk of contamination of natural environments by wastewater,” confirms Sébastien Lemoine, representative of the Carnac oyster farmers’ union.
It is also this same risk which can justify the closure of beaches in summer after stormy episodes.
Increased monitoring in the event of heavy rain
But oysters are subject to special surveillance by the authorities.
“The quality of shellfish is governed by European regulations and consists of measuring an indicator of fecal contamination,” explains Soizick Le Guyader, head of the Health Environment Microbiology laboratory at Ifremer.
These checks which detect the presence of the Escherichia coli bacteria are carried out once or twice a month by the microbiological surveillance network set up by Ifremer.
“And this frequency can be increased depending on the circumstances, particularly following heavy rains,” the Ministry of Agriculture also tells us.
To carry out these analyses, Ifremer defines the areas most at risk, that is to say those which would be most likely to be affected in the event of contamination.
“Producers also carry out self-checks and can put their oysters in purification basins,” says Soizick Le Guyader, who admits that accidents are always possible. Especially since norovirus is a very resistant virus,” she emphasizes. But it can be caught in many other ways, she puts things into perspective.
A threat to the activity of oyster farmers
It is therefore for oyster farmers, whose activity can be stopped overnight, that this contamination phenomenon represents the most significant threat.
“When they are unfavorable, the analysis results may lead the prefect of the department to order an administrative closure of the area, that is to say, to prohibit the harvesting of all shellfish there,” we are reminded at the Ministry of Agriculture.
An interruption of activity which can have serious consequences for oyster farmers, particularly as the end of the year approaches. “The holiday period represents on average 60% of oyster farmers’ turnover over the year,” indicates Sébastien Lemoire.
“I estimate that there are 12 or 13 tonnes of oysters that I will not be able to market before next year. We are not far from the 45,000 euros shortfall over the end-of-year holidays “, was also annoyed with BFMTV by Guillaume Taraud, oyster farmer in Moutiers-en-Retz, on December 19.
“Sanitation networks, which are often obsolete and not adapted to the population growth experienced by many coastal areas, are at the origin of these phenomena of saturation and therefore contamination,” denounces Sébastien Lemoine.
“We are asked to take responsibility for pollution for which we are not responsible,” he adds, before concluding: “we are the polluted-payers.”
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