THE BACTERIOLOGICAL EXAMINATIONS OF SHUCKED AND SHELL OYSTERS.

Abstract

During the last quarter of a century rapid developments have taken place along all lines of sanitary science, and nowhere is this progress more noticeable and striking than in the realm of food bacteriology. Since the passage of the Pure Food and Drugs Act in 1906, the need of bacteriology as applied to sanitation has been amply demonstrated. This is particularly true in connection with the production, care, and handling of all kinds of food material, both in their raw and in their finished state. The question as to the possibility of oysters and other shell-fish becoming contaminated with sewage-polluted water was one of the first problems to receive consideration after the passage of the Food Law. At the solicitation of a committee representing the North American Oyster Growers and Dealers Association, Dr. H. W. Wiley, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry, arranged to have the necessary investigation made to study the whole oyster situation. Various phases of the industry were taken up and systematically considered in detail. The writer was instructed to take up the industry from the standpoint of the bacteriologistjt From the sanitary point of view the ruling of the Food and Drug Inspection Board made it unlawful to ship or sell in interstate commerce oysters or other shell-fish taken from polluted beds. This order also made it unlawful to sell or ship in interstate commerce oysters or other shell-fish which have beccme polluted because of being packed under insanitary conditions or being placed in unclean receptacles. It was further considered unlawful to ship or sell in interstate commerce shucked oysters to which water has been added, either directly or in the form of melted ice. Food Inspection Decision No. 121, an amendment to F. I. D.