shellfish from part of the bay of Mont Saint-Michel temporarily banned for sale

The end of year holidays are over, but not the poisonings. All shellfish produced in a western part of the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel are temporarily prohibited from fishing, harvesting and marketing, after new cases of “collective food poisoning”the Ille-et-Vilaine prefecture announced on Thursday.

Traceability surveys carried out by State services indicate that oysters from this sector “are in question” in these poisonings, indicates the press release. “At the same time, analyzes carried out on oysters farmed in this area confirm the presence of norovirus”, specifies the text. The symptoms associated with norovirus are those of acute gastroenteritis, and no serious cases have been reported to date.

“The banning measures will be lifted by prefectural decree as soon as the health quality of the shellfish becomes fully satisfactory again”, concludes the press release. In recent weeks, the marketing of oysters and other shellfish has been temporarily suspended in several coastal sectors in the Channel and the Atlantic, for health reasons similar to this latest ban in Ille-et-Vilaine.

Most of these suspensions took place before the end-of-year holidays, one of the high points of sales for producers. The Regional Shellfish Farming Committee (CRC) of Pays de la Loire filed three complaints against X on Thursday after the bans on the marketing of oysters in Vendée and Loire-Atlantique.