Health authorities in southwestern France have temporarily banned the sales of oysters from the famous Bay of Arcachon after several people suffered food poisoning.
Several cases of acute gastroenteritis have been reported in recent days, so far none of them life-threatening.
Initial investigations on locally farmed oysters confirmed the presence of norovirus, the most common cause of gastroenteritis.
Regional health authorities on Wednesday said fishing, harvesting and sales of all shellfish from Arcachon, a scenic bay on the Atlantic famed for its seafood, should stop temporarily.
"Batches of shellfish harvested or fished in these areas must be withdrawn from sale," said the Gironde prefecture in a statement.
"Anyone in possession of shellfish from these areas is asked not to eat them and to return them to the point of sale."
Peak period
The ban will hit oyster farmers who plan for increased business at the end of the year, with the delicacy a traditional feature of gatherings on 31 December and 1 January.
"For those who work with supermarkets, the festive period represents up to half of their volumes, with two-thirds of that figure sold at Christmas and one-third for New Year's Eve," Thierry Lafon, a local producer based in the town of Gujan-Mestras, told the French news agency AFP.
"There's the immediate impact – the loss of income – and then the shockwave: oysters that aren't sold now will saturate the market," he added.
"Oysters are a living product, so we can't just put them on a shelf and say we'll see about it later. We're going to have to manage a bulky stock."
Sewage spills
The Arcachon Aquitaine Regional Shellfish Farming Committee (CRCAA) blamed sewage overspills for contaminating production areas.
"We have a very decent sewerage system, which is often held up as an example," said Lafon.
"But rainwater management is lamentable. We've had heavy rain for a month and a half, the water tables are at their highest, and when that happens, a few centimetres of water on the road is enough to overwhelm the sewage system.
"The pipes can no longer cope with the flow and it overflows into the marine environment, which becomes unhealthy."
The Bay of Arcachon produces around 8,000 tonnes of oysters a year – 10 percent of France's total production, according to data from the CRCAA and Agreste, the French Ministry of Agriculture's statistics department.
The CRCAA warned of "an unprecedented economic crisis" after the announcement of the ban, which comes two months after storms damaged several hectares of oyster beds in the area.
(with newswires)
