B.C. raw oyster norovirus outbreak leads to wavering consumer confidence

Consumer confidence in B.C.’s shellfish products has been hit by an ongoing outbreak of norovirus as  hundreds of people have gotten sick in the last month in Canada, and more recently in the U.S., all linked to raw oysters harvested from a small area off the coast of Vancouver Island.

Canadian and American health authorities have issued warnings to consumers as a result of the outbreak in one region, but those in the industry say the impact on B.C.’s reputation is more widespread.

There are about five oyster farms closures currently in the Baynes Sound area (14-08 and 14-15) which is between Denman and Vancouver Island as is an offshoot of the Strait of George. That area is linked to the outbreak, but not all B.C. shellfish is affected, a message the already hard-hit industry is trying to get out.

• Union Bay Seafood Ltd.: Pacific Oysters – Chef Creek Xs and Royal Miyagi xsm harvested on Mar. 17 and 18.
• Daily Fresh Shellfish Inc.: Royal Miyagi, Glacier Apex or Kisu oysters harvested between Mar. 14 – 21. As well as the light house xsmall beach oysters harvested on Mar. 12.
• Taylor Shellfish Canada ULC: Fanny Bay Oysters, various sizes, harvested Mar. 4, 11, 14, 15.
• Pacific Rim Shellfish Corp.: Tray Oyster and Beach oysters, extra small and medium large sizes, harvested Mar. 9.
• Stellar Bay Shellfish: Chef creek oyster, harvested Mar. 7.

The first food recall warning was issued Mar. 23, and since then there has been four other companies associated with the outbreak. However, the BC Shellfish Growers Association says a lot of the warnings are precautionary as authorities investigate. But not all B.C. shellfish is affected, a message the already hard-hit industry is trying to get out.

Nico Prins with the BC Shellfish Growers Association says the recalls are just the latest to hit the already struggling sector.

“It’s been pointed to a couple of farming areas and with norovirus typically it is a contamination event that’s very specific to specific farm or geographic area,” he said, adding “In B.C. we’ve got hundreds of different farming areas and I think close to 470 different farms and they’re very far away from the point sources.”

Related articles:

• Public health notice warns of norovirus outbreak linked to B.C. oysters

• B.C. oyster recall issued across Canada over norovirus concerns

“One of the previous year’s closures amounted to probably about close to $10 million with loss of sales… and I think this one is probably a little bit more extensive than that one. So as an industry we’ll feel the impacts probably for many years to come,” he said.

“Unfortunately it’s got a huge impact on consumer confidence and, in a lot of cases the media reports and closure notices [are] not specific enough and tends to tar everybody under the same brush. For instance, it’s saying B.C. oysters where it’s definitely not the case,” Prins said.

Norovirus infection is usually associated with cruise ships and hospitals due to the speed of transmission in close spaces. It can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea, is highly contagious and can require medical attention in some people. Norovirus in food is not detectable by taste, and symptoms do not appear until 12 hours to 2 days after exposure.

Oysters don’t have a long lifespan on the market, and Prins suspects contamination events are probably close to being over. Fortunately, the BCCDC reports illnesses are slowing.

The timing of the outbreak couldn’t be worse, as it comes as oyster sales were just picking up with many returning to restaurants and social events after a two-year pandemic hiatus.

North America was already seeing an oyster shortage, due to heatwaves in previous years. Last summer’s heatwaves in the Pacific Northwest alone killed a massive amount of shellfish.

“It’s been a tough couple of years and the knocks just keep on coming. So we’re sort of off the back of a really tough time in terms of climate change and mortality rates linked to higher sea temperatures and then obviously followed by the massive impact on the market with COVID. So unfortunately the industry was already in a weakened state and now it’s going just when things started to look up it’s going into another potential significant loss of revenue,” he said.

B.C. sees about 110 million oysters sold each year, and an estimated 50 per cent come from the Comox/Baynes Sound area.

Victoria Lake with Canadian Seafood Processing Inc. says the shellfish products her company processes do not come from the recall areas and says many people don’t know that B.C. has a very vast farming region, beyond the Baynes Sound area.

“B.C. oysters generally are safe, the ones that are still on the market right now are safe,” Lake said. “Hopefully the restaurants will stick with the B.C. oysters, unfortunately when this happens a lot of restaurants they go to east coast of Canada, they will start buying from Nova Scotia, PEI, and that’s not what we want to see.”

Lake urges restaurants and consumers to do their research.

“For a restaurant that’s looking to continue serving B.C. oysters at their buck-a-shuck you just need to know where your oysters come from. So, we’re harvesting oysters right now out of Barkley Sound, three different areas, areas that have been consistently clean waters, we are not surrounded by farms or populations,” Lake said, “just look for an area outside of the ones that are being recalled and you should be fine.”