Vancouver restaurants are now permitted to serve raw oysters harvested in BC following a decision by Vancouver Coastal Health to lift their ban on Thursday.
The raw oyster ban had been in place since Aug. 12 due to an outbreak of Vibrio parahaemolyticus infection, requiring all BC-harvested oysters to be cooked before serving.
“The order is being lifted because water temperature measurements and historical disease trends all indicate that risk of infection with Vibrio parahaemolyticus has returned to baseline,” Vancouver Coastal Health stated in a press release.
Increased testing of oysters implemented on Aug. 18 by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency is also expected to further reduce risk.
So far 60 cases of infection related to raw shellfish consumption have been reported to date. Twenty-eight cases were from the Vancouver Coastal Health region.
Since there is always a risk of illness from raw or undercooked shellfish, restaurants in the Vancouver Coastal Health region have been required to display an advisory in menus or on tables since 2007, warning customers of the risks of consuming raw or under cooked oysters.
