Ag department issues consumer advisory for Korean shellfish

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) is advising consumers to avoid eating Korean shellfish and products containing Korean shellfish after a federal evaluation determined that Korea’s shellfish sanitation controls do not meet the minimal standards established by international agreement.

The consumer advisory applies to all Korean fresh and fresh frozen shellfish – including oysters, clams, mussels, and whole and roe-on scallops either shucked or in the shell – and all products derived from fresh and fresh frozen Korean shellfish. MDA recommends that consumers check the country-of-origin information typically included on the labels of fresh and fresh frozen shellfish packaging, and to discard any shellfish or shellfish product labeled as coming from Korea.

In recent weeks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the South Korean Shellfish Sanitation Program – a program FDA requires for the country to ship shellfish to the United States. The evaluation found that the Korean Shellfish Sanitation Program did not have adequate sanitation controls and that shellfish produced in that country had a significant risk of contamination with water-borne pathogens such as norovirus.

MDA is not aware of any Minnesota illnesses directly associated with these products, but FDA reports that there have been norovirus illnesses in the U.S. associated with the consumption of Korean oysters as recently as 2011.

MDA inspectors will be visiting with Minnesota retail and wholesale food businesses in the coming weeks to share information about the situation and to verify that at-risk products have been removed from the marketplace.

Tags: news, updates, shellfish, health