Charles Guyard (in Vendée) / Photo credits: JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP 10:39 a.m., December 29, 2023

Oysters from the Arcachon Bay are temporarily banned from sale after "several cases of collective foodborne illness". Professionals who are still spared are trying to reassure consumers whose confidence has been damaged two days before New Year's Eve.

Will there be oysters on your table on New Year's Eve? The oyster farming industry fears a wave of panic among customers after the contamination of oysters from the Arcachon basin, temporarily banned from sale after "several cases of collective food-borne illness", announced the Gironde prefecture. "The symptoms are those of acute gastroenteritis and no serious cases have been reported to date," the authorities said in a statement late Wednesday.

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Oysters are now shunned by consumers

With two days to go before New Year's Eve, professionals, who have still been spared, want to reassure consumers. After sorting, where they are divided by weight and size, the oysters land in the dispatch room.

In the Vendée, orders are still in place but are down compared to other years because for about two weeks, a new virus has been seriously damaging the sector, with bans pronounced at the worst time of the year. It started a few kilometres from here, in the south of the Loire-Atlantique, then in Morbihan, before reaching the famous Arcachon basin. As a result, in the Vendée, disaster has certainly been avoided, but consumer mistrust has not.

"We're doing 30% less"

"We are fortunate in the Vendée that the majority of oyster farmers have large storage capacities. In the pools, we took the water several weeks ago and we run in a closed circuit, we are protected from any pollution. Vendée oysters are good to eat, but despite everything, people have shunned the product. And we, on our small scale, make 30% less," says this boss of Cape Horn oysters.

Finger pointed at wastewater treatment plants

As soon as the festivities are over, the oyster farmers intend to make their exasperation heard by the local authorities. This is because this norovirus is thought to come from faulty wastewater treatment plants upstream. We are the last link in the chain and we are always the polluted," he concludes.