Food Safety: FDA Needs to Reassess Its Approach to Reducing an Illness Caused by Eating Raw Oysters

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Vibrio vulnificus (V. vulnificus) is a bacterium that occurs naturally in the Gulf of Mexico. On average, since 2000, about 32 individuals a year in the United States have become ill from eating raw or undercooked oysters containing V. vulnificus, and about half have died. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for ensuring oyster safety and works with the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference (ISSC), which includes representatives from FDA, states, and the shellfish industry to establish guidelines for sanitary control of the shellfish industry. GAO was asked to determine the extent to which FDA and the ISSC agree on the V. vulnificus illness reduction goal, use a credible approach to measure progress toward the illness rate reduction goal, have evaluated the effectiveness of their actions in reducing V. vulnificus illnesses, and whether the Gulf Coast oyster industry has adequate capacity to postharvest process oysters harvested April through October. GAO reviewed data and documents and interviewed officials in FDA, the ISSC, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas.