SHELLFISH AND FOOD PRODUCTS 228A. (a) The State Department of Health shall prohibit the importation into the State of shellfish from sources that have not been certified for interstate shipment through the Public Health Service. This prohibition shall not extend to shellstock imported into the State for replanting under the direction of the Department of Tidewater Fisheries. (b) The State Department of Health shall prohibit the importation into the State all food products containing shellfish and/or portions of shellfish unless the shellfish and/or portions of shellfish are from sources which have been certified for interstate shipment through the Public Health Service. All processors of food products containing imported shellfish and/or shellfish portions must keep on file proof that the shellfish and/or shellfish portions are from sources certified through the Public Health Service and shall forward to the State Department of Health this proof if and when it is requested by the Department. (c) The State Board of Health and Mental Hygiene may delegate to the Commissioner of the State Department of Health authority to detain shipments of imported shellfish and food products containing shellfish and/or portions of shellfish from questionable or uncertified sources for such action as may be necessary. (d) The State Department of Health may condemn and destroy shellfish and food products containing shellfish and/or shellfish portions imported into the State from uncertified sources. (e) Any person who handles, receives or possesses uncertified shellfish and food products containing uncertified shellfish and/or shellfish portions in violation of this section shall be subject to a fine of not more than $500.00 for each offense. Each and every such violation shall constitute a separate offense. SECTION 2. And be it further enacted, that this Act shall take effect You will note that the Maryland law covers all types of shellfish rather than just the raw and frozen ones. This was done to include smoked, and cooked shellfish or portions of shellfish used in food products. This should substantially eliminate the chances of illness due to viral infections and some types of toxins that survive both high temperatures and freezing. I suggest that consideration be given to include all edible types of shellfish and/or portions of shellfish under the PHS program instead of only raw and frozen regardless of whether they are mixed with seasoning or other food ingredients. Although the title of my paper is Regulatory Problems on Non-certified Imports of Shellfish, the overall theme of it is protecting the health of the consuming public. With this thought in mind, I shall briefly discuss another method of eating shellfish that is not only rapidly increasing in popularity, but does not have the partial built in protection that cooked shellfish possess. It is the sale of raw shellfish on the half-shell. The Federal minimum wage law has forced many operators of shellfish and crab plants to sell as much of their seafood as possible without picking the crabs or shucking the shellfish. Picking crabs and shucking shellfish is becoming a lost art as the older people who learned the trade when they were young, are retiring and accepting social security. Today the operators of the seafood plants cannot afford to have the younger generation master the art of picking and shucking at the Federal minimum of $1.15 per hour. During the last year's oyster season we made a survey in Maryland to determine conditions under which the so-called "oyster roasts" were operated. Con The vast majority of the shellfish were served on the half-shell raw. ditions under which the shellfish were handled varied somewhat. However, in our opinion, there was a need for some educational work on handling practices which could benefit the consuming public and the oyster industry. Accordingly, we met with a committee from the shellfish industry and drew up the following statement, which is being printed on a bright yellow 8" x 5" card which will be attached to each barrel, box, basket or bag of shellfish sold for raw bar consumption. The card states "These shellfish have been harvested and packed under the high standards of the Maryland State Department of Health and the U.S. Public Health Service. To maintain high quality, fresh flavor and sanitary conditions, it is urged that- 1. Shellfish be kept below 45°F. but not in direct contact with ice. 2. Shuckers wear clean outer clothing including a cap or paper hat. 3. Shuckers with a cold, sore throat, infected cuts on their hands, or other illness should not handle shellfish. 4. Shellfish should be protected from dirt such as used water, floor cleaning spatter and leakage from above the container. Shellfish are food protect them like any other food! After using this card for the 1964-65 season, I expect we will be able to improve the language or possibly make the card with a hole as in tags so it may be tied on bags of shellfish as well as stapled to barrels, baskets, etc. I doubt whether there is any one "sure fire" method of educating the people who work with shellfish from the time they are harvested until they are ready to be eaten as to how they should be handled and why they should be handled as suggested, but each shellfish producing State in this country should rededicate itself to a program of education that will produce the best results in their respective sections. APPENDIX Q SHELLFISH IMPORTS By William A. Felsing, Jr. Shellfish Sanitation Branch Public Health Service San Francisco, California The sanitary control of fresh and frozen shellfish imports into this country has been a topic of great interest since the mid 1920's; however, discussions at this time are particularly relevant in view of the unparalleled growth occurring in world fisheries, and the increasing interest of foreign countries in exporting their fishery products to the United States. The sea is one of man's greatest natural storehouses of food. It is estimated that at the present time only 10% of this vast resource is being utilized for the benefit of man. Explosive population growth throughout the world has, however, awakened the world to the importance of this resource; consequently, many countries today are actively pursuing the development of these fishery resources. This is particularly true of Central and South America and of the new emerging African States. These countries are not only interested in developing an important source of food for their increasing populace, but are looking toward these commodities to bolster their national economies through international trade. Economically, the most valuable fishery products entering international trade are fresh, frozen, and canned fish and shellfish; however, at the present, these products represent but a small fraction of the total world trade. In 1962, for example, imported fresh and frozen oysters and clams represented less than 0.1% of the total fishery imports of this country. Recognizing the recent development in foreign fisheries the past several years, there is no reason to believe that this situation will continue to prevail. In fact, increasing expressions of interest of foreign countries desiring to market their bivalve shellfish in the United States would tend to indicate otherwise. Although imported fresh and frozen oysters and clams currently represent but a small fraction of fishery products entering the United States, their associated potential public health significance is far greater than statistical figures would tend to indicate. Fundamentally this is due to the unusual physiological ability of these molluscs to accumulate and retain microorganisms, including those pathogenic in nature, toxic chemicals, and deadly marine neurotoxins from their marine environment, and the relative ease which these harmful pollutants may be passed on to the consumer. Concern over the sanitary quality of fresh and frozen shellfish imported into this country is not a new and emerging problem, but an old and continuing one. Ever since the inception of the Cooperative Program for the Certification of Interstate Shellfish Shippers some forty-odd years ago, there has been deep concern over the potential public health hazards associated with imported shellfish. This concern stems directly from the basic tenet upon which the Cooperative Program was founded and continues to be governed today, the singular concept of "control of source." It has long been recognized and agreed by health and food officials knowledgeable in sanitary production of shellfish that the only assured means of providing complete consumer protection is by attendant control of all phases of shellfish production. Accordingly, the Cooperative Program has emphasized the sanitary evaluation of shellfish growing areas, prevention of harvesting from areas of unsatisfactory quality, surveillance of areas of natural toxicity with prevention of harvesting when required, and close sanitary supervision of all aspects of harvesting, shucking, packing, and shipment to receiving areas. It is the concensus of State and Federal agencies, and the shellfish industry, that such a control program is essential to assure safe shellfish for the consuming public, regardless of foreign or domestically produced. Currently, the only means foreign shellfish shipments may be denied entry into the United States is through the provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act. Under this Act, inspections of source are not provided for, only objective examinations of shipments upon their arrival at port of entry. If through such examinations the Food and Drug Administration finds the shipment to be insanitary, adulterated, or mislabeled, their entry can be denied. However, in the absence of such evidence, entry must ordinarily be permitted. While objective examinations are of value, to be sure, they do not and cannot, under present technology, provide complete evidence as to the sanitary conditions under which the shellfish were produced. Accordingly, such examinations cannot be relied upon as a total substitute for the "control-of-source" sanitary controls required by the Cooperative Program. The Public Health Service cannot, therefore, recommend the sale of fresh or frozen foreign shellfish produced outside the provisions of the Cooperative Program, although such shellfish may have been legally admitted into this country. Consequently, the majority of the States will not permit the sale of such shellfish. Such State action is presently the only truly effective means of controlling importation of non-certified foreign shellfish. Sanitary control of shellfish imported from Canada was successfully met early in the formation of the Cooperative Program through development of a bilateral shellfish sanitation agreement. Under this agreement, which was formalized in 1948, Canada agreed to use the same sanitary standards and control practices as utilized in the United States. Canadian dealers shipping fresh or frozen shellfish into this country are certified to the Public Health Service by the Canadian Department of National Health and Welfare as complying with the sanitary standards of the Cooperative Program. Canadian shippers are accordingly listed together with U. S. shippers on the Public Health Service's bi-monthly list of certified interstate shellfish shippers. Under the provisions of the U. S. - Canadian Agreement, there has been a continuing exchange of both administrative and technical information between the two National Governments through reciprocal inspections and joint shellfish sanitary surveys. Past experience has shown this agreement with Canada to be highly successful. The problems relating to the sanitary control of imported fresh or frozen shellfish from countries other than Canada were discussed in some length at the Fourth National Shellfish Sanitation Workshop in 1961. As a consequence of these discussions, a statement of position regarding the sanitary control of such non-certified imports was adopted by the Workshop participants. This position statement recommended Federal action to provide an extension of the Certification Program to foreign sources of shellfish other than Canada in addition to continuing to remind State agencies of their public responsibilities in preventing the sale of non-certified shellfish. Following the 1961 National Workshop, a series of meetings between representatives of the Public Health Service, Food and Drug Administration, and Department of State, were held to discuss the administrative problems related to the sanitary control of fresh and frozen shellfish imported from countries other than Canada. It was tentatively concluded that the U. S. Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Agreement had established a principle, and that there were no apparent obstacles, other than administrative, in extending similar agreements to other countries. In consideration of this decision, and at the request of the Japanese Government, the Public Health Service and Department of State began negotiations with the Government of Japan relative to the development of a Shellfish Sanitation Agreement between the two countries similar in nature to the U. S. - Canadian Agreement. In the Fall of 1962, after lengthy negotiations and on-site reviews, an agreement was signed between the United States and Japan which provided for PHS recognition of the Japanese Shellfish Sanitation Control Program. Since that time, a single shellfish shipper in Hiroshima Prefecture has been certified to the Public Health Service by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare as complying with the sanitary provisions of the Cooperative Program. Accordingly, this Japanese shipper has been included on the PHS list of certified shippers, together with U. S. and Canadian shippers. Each year since the conclusion of the Agreement, the Public Health Service has, at the expense of the Japanese Government, assigned a sanitary engineer to Japan to jointly review the Hiroshima Prefecture Shellfish Sanitation Control Program with representatives of the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare. These reviews have indicated the Japanese control program to be in high compliance with the provisions of the Cooperative Program. Official interest from foreign governments in exporting fresh and frozen shucked and shelled molluscs to the United States has increased noticeably within the past few years. In response to this interest, the Public Health Service has, on separate occasions, participated in a series of discussions with representatives of the Department of State, the Republic of South Korea, France, and Venezuela, directed toward exploring the possibilities of developing sanitation agreements similar to those currently held with Canada and Japan. At this time, there is no way of predicting the eventual outcome of these negotiations; however, the matter is under active discussion at the present time. The Public Health Service has recently been advised that the Government of Mexico will soon indicate its official interest in exporting shellfish to this country under an agreement which will permit the marketing of their products under the terms of the Certification Program. It is reported that the Mexican Government has launched a broad program for large-scale expansion of their national fisheries. Mexican fisheries are currently heavily dependent upon shrimp export and every effort is being made to broaden the exploitation of other fishery resources. Expansion plans call for commercial utilization of oysters harvested from the States of Tabasco and Campeche and of the vast Pismo clam resources existing along the ocean beaches of Baja, California. It has been reported that Mexican interests have recently been attempting to interest United States chowder canners in large quantities of Pismo clams to be harvested by modern clam dredges. In addition to official interest from the countries mentioned, the shellfish industries of Australia, New Zealand, American Samoa, and Iceland, have recently renewed interest in increasing the sale of their shellfish products here in the United States. As exploitation of the world's fisheries increases, it can be expected that increasing numbers of other countries will become desirous of shipping their shellfish products to markets here in this country. Countries exporting fresh and frozen oysters and clams to the United States during the period from 1960-1964, are summarized in Tables 1 and 2. The present system of extending the provisions of the Cooperative Shellfish Program to foreign countries by means of shellfish sanitation agreements, although sound in principle, cannot be considered as an administratively satisfactory solution as the basic problem remains unresolved. Countries lacking agreements can still export their fresh or frozen shellfish to this country, providing that suitable markets exist, and such shipments are able to pass objective examinations at port of entry. Enactment of Federal legislation for control of the public health aspects of noncertified shellfish imports would appear to offer the most promising solution to this problem. However, bills introduced at the second and first sessions of the 86th and 87th Congress respectively, were not passed although interests in this field continues. The Oyster Institute of North America, the Conference of State Sanitary Engineers, and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officers, have all endorsed the principle of Federal legislation as providing a mechanism for controlling the sanitary quality of imported shellfish. Possible legislative action is presently under serious consideration by the Public Health Service; however, the Service and Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, have not, as yet, taken a formal position in this regard. It is difficult to predict what final action will be taken. In the absence of specific shellfish legislation prohibiting the entry of shellfish produced under unknown sanitary conditions, or of some other equally effective control measure, the Public Health Service will, in accordance with the recommendations of the 1961 Workshop, continue to consider the extension of the sanitary control provisions of the Cooperative Program to other countries wherever technically possible, and with due regard to the limitations of available fiscal and personnel resources. State and local health agencies must necessarily retain the responsibility of permitting or denying the sale of shellfish imported from those countries not extended shellfish sanitation agreements. |