Is It Safe to Eat Raw Oysters During Any Month?

Published Jul 6, 2024, 9:00 AM

You may have heard that you shouldn't eat oysters in any month without the letter R in its name. Learn where this idea came from -- and why it's not true anymore -- in this episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://health.howstuffworks.com/food-nutrition/raw-oysters-are-safe-to-eat-every-month-year.htm

Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, there's an old saying that you should never eat raw oysters in any month that doesn't have the letter R in its name. Most months do. The only ones without an R happened to be May, June, July, and August. But why is this and is it really true? The idea behind the saying is that it's unsafe to eat oysters during these months because it could make you sick. You'll notice that these four months fall in a block towards the end of spring through the heat of summer here in the northern hemisphere. That heat is why there is a grain of truth behind this old saying. Okay, we've talked before on the show about how bacteria live all around us. Many are harmless, some are even helpful, but some are pathogenic, meaning they can cause disease. There are a number of species of bacteria in the genus Vibrio that can cause nasty cases of food and water borne illness. A cholera is caused by a Vibrio species. Bacteria in this genus live mostly in salt water and during warm weather, when the water temperature hits about sixty eight degrees fahrenheit or twenty celsius. They absolutely thrive, for example, in places like the Gulf of Mexico, where lots of oysters are harvested, and in the past, before refrigeration technology was available and affordable, oysters harvested in hot weather wouldn't have been kept cold on their journey from the sea to you. So eating raw oysters during the summer theoretically could increase your chances of having contact with fibrio and becoming sick. It doesn't help that it's hard to tell with oysters and fibriel. Lots of the time, food that's gone off and could give you food poisoning is gonna smell or look bad. When food goes bad, it's because microorganisms have started to eat it before you had a chance to, and some of them might change the flavor or color or texture of the food, and some of them might be pathogenic. Unfortunately, oysters carrying fibriobacteria don't usually look or taste any different, so there's no way to know until twenty four to forty eight hours later, when gastonitis sets in. You know the fever, chills, nausea, diarrhea. It'll usually pass on its own, though cases can be severe or even deadly. But let's be clear, infections caused by Fibrio species are rare these days. Americans consume nearly two point five billion oysters every year. The CDC estimates that we have about eighty thousand Fibrio related illnesses and one hundred deaths, about half of which are due to contaminated food. That's not very many cases compared to say, salmonilla, which causes one point two million illnesses and four hundred and fifty deaths every year. Still, it's something to be aware of, especially if you're at risk for having a worse bout of illness from a potential Vibrio infection due to being immunocompromised or having a liver condition. In those cases, you might want to eat your oysters steamed, baked, deep fried. There are plenty of non raw options, and cooking oysters to a safe temperature will kill off any fibryobacteria that may be present. However, these days, there are industry practices and government regulations that make seafood like oysters as safe as possible. A water quality can be monitored and for example, in Louisiana, oyster boats are required to have on board refrigeration to keep those slimy buddies cool from the moment they leave the water, no matter what the weather's like. Just make sure your raw oysters arrive to you refrigerated or on ice. They should smell fresh and briny, not fishy, and any reputable kitchen or market staff will be able to tell you where they're from and when they were harvested, because oysters legally have to come with those labels in the United States. Today's episode is based on the article Factor fiction Raw oysters are safe to eat every month of the year on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Don Parretano. Rain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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