New oyster regulations raise questions, potential problems - al.com

New oyster regulations raise questions, potential problems - al.com: "Oyster lovers better get ready for some changes coming down the track. At the October meeting of the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration announced that, effective in 2011, all oysters harvested from the Gulf of Mexico during the warmer months of the year would have to receive some form of post-harvest processing to ensure that the oysters were free of any contamination by the potentially fatal bacteria, Vibrio vulnificus.

What does all that mean? There are all sorts of implications for oystermen, processors, restaurant operators, but the upshot is that consumers would no longer be able to purchase and consume live, raw oysters on the half shell harvested from the Gulf of Mexico during the warmer months."