摘要：Consumers face health risks from eating molluscan shellfish products, particularly raw or partially cooked, such as oysters and clams. With the increasing notoriety of shellfish-related illnesses and even deaths, the shellfish industry has suffered a decline in sales. Some risks associated with raw or partially cooked oysters can be reduced by depuration. This is a process in which oysters are placed in tanks of sterilized, flowing seawater where their natural pumping action purges the animal of gut contents and pathogens (illness-causing microbes). The process can reduce the number of some pathogens found in oysters; it has been recognized by seafood safety regulators (e.g., U.S. FDA 1989) and the industry as a risk control strategy for shellfish products. Currently, depuration is not widely practiced in the U.S. In order for depuration to have any significant impact on risk reduction, there must exist adequate economic incentives for the industry to adopt the technology and to offer the potentially safer product to the market. The economic incentives depend on tradeoffs between the costs of depuration and the benefits the process can generate. The major costs are on the processing sector to design and operate depuration facilities economically and according to standards. The benefits of depuration may include more landings and lower per unit harvesting cost for the fishermen and higher processor and retail prices for depurated products that are safer and aesthetically better. Ultimately, the profitability of the process also depends on the preferences of retailers and consumers. This chapter reports a case study of the potential for oyster depuration in Dixie and Levy Counties, Florida. Our focus is on the costs that a processor would be likely to incur to set up and operate a depuration facility. We also explore how restaurant managers and consumers might react to depurated products.
