Clams and cockles from the Arcachon Basin banned for sale due to contamination with E.coli bacteria

Clams and cockles from the Arcachon Basin must be temporarily withdrawn from sale from Tuesday, November 21, due to contamination with Escherichia coli bacteria, reports France Bleu Gironde. This measure does not concern oysters.

The prefecture of Gironde specifies in a press release that the analyzes carried out by the State with the support of Ifremer (French Research Institute for the Exploitation of the Sea) highlight this contamination which “may cause a risk to human health if swallowed.”

All shellfish caught in this area since Tuesday, November 14 must be removed from sale, and “Recreational fishing is also temporarily prohibited.” “Oysters from the Arcachon Bay are not affected by this ban”writes the department prefecture.

This infection had already caused the ban on seafood from the Basin in 2019 and 2021, recalls France Bleu Gironde. In May 2023, clams were banned from sale for a week due to contamination with another toxin. According to Ifremer, the production of clams in 2021 was 507 tonnes for the Arcachon basin, a far cry from the 8,000 tonnes of oysters produced each year in the Basin.