The Virginia Department of Health is reporting that a third round of oysters taken from Little Wicomico Oyster Company cages on Nov. 2 tested positive for Salmonella, representing three of eight meat samples from two of the company’s four leases.
The Little Wicomico River in Northumberland County, VA, remains closed to shellfish harvest with no end date. CDC counts 28 people sick with Salmonella Telelkebir in 13 states, five of them hospitalized and none dead. Recalled oysters were harvested Sept. 18 through Oct. 8 and shipped to 16 states and the District of Columbia.
On Oct. 13, 400 oysters were pulled from the company’s cages and processed into eight meat samples; all eight were positive, carrying Salmonella Telelkebir, Newport, Hartford and Braenderup. On Oct. 21 a second 400-oyster round was positive on three of the four leases, with Telelkebir, Newport, Hartford and Thompson. On Nov. 2 a third round was positive on three of eight samples from two of four leases. A fourth round was collected Nov. 9 and results are pending at the state lab.
The river cannot reopen until three rounds in a row come back clean.
Virginia also looked for where the Salmonella might be coming from. Forty-seven water samples collected Oct. 22 were tested for HF183, a marker of human sewage, and for Enterococci, a general fecal indicator. HF183 was negative in all 47 and Enterococci ran from below the detection limit to 120 MPN per 100 milliliters. The state health department says the data do not point to a significant sewage release.
Eight bird-feces samples collected Nov. 2 were negative for Salmonella. Oysters from the river’s public harvest grounds, sampled Oct. 26, were negative. Water and oysters from the public grounds collected Nov. 4 went to the University of North Carolina and are pending.
The health department closed the river by emergency order on Oct. 9. When that 30-day order ran out, it replaced it with Shellfish Area Condemnation 010-105, with no expiration date.
Eleven of the 28 outbreak patients reported eating raw oysters, and tag and traceback records for seven of them led back to the Little Wicomico River. Two of those seven ate oysters from this river only. FDA’s safety alert, lists distribution to California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and the District of Columbia, and says the oysters may have been shipped further.
The recall covers shellstock oysters harvested from the Little Wicomico River between Sept. 18 and Oct. 8, tagged Little Wicomico River, VA, or Little Wicomico River Lower, VA. Publix sold some of them as James River Oysters through Oct. 14. If you shucked and froze oyster meat in late September or early October and are not sure where it came from, throw it out.
