Can Imported Oysters Be Eaten Raw? Taiwan, China Lacks Pathogen Border Inspection Standards

At the end of June, an outbreak on Green Island, Taiwan, China, saw 102 people collectively infected with norovirus after eating raw oysters, and the lesson from such a food poisoning incident is not far off; in 2012

Investigation showed that the patients in last month's collective food poisoning incident had all eaten raw oysters at the "Pond Has Fish" restaurant in Green Island Township. The Taitung County Health Bureau took samples of raw oysters from the supplier "Heji Seafood" and sent them to the Food and Drug Administration for testing. Only after norovirus was confirmed positive on July 8 did it trace Heji Seafood's upstream suppliers to Kaohsiung City's Jiapin Seafood and Jiafu Seafood, seal them and urge the operators to recall the problematic products, totaling 16447.5 kilograms.

It is worth noting that this batch of problematic raw oysters carried norovirus. In addition to seafood traders being required under Article 15 of the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation to pay a fine of 60,000 to 200 million yuan, the downstream Heji Seafood, despite purchasing products labeled on the outer packaging as "shell-on oysters for cooked consumption," still insisted on selling them as raw-consumption products, and likewise needs to be fined.

Border customs does not classify, making it easy for non-raw-consumption seafood to be passed off as raw-consumption seafood to earn a price difference