November 22, 2009, 5:03AM
David Grunfeld/The Times-PicayuneAmeriPure Oysters in Franklin uses a pasteurization process to essentially eliminate the vibrio bacteria from oysters. The bands around the oysters prevent the shells from popping open during the bacterial treatment process.
After a whirlwind month for the Gulf Coast oyster industry, with stringent food safety requirements on raw oysters coming and then going nine days ago, restaurant owners, oyster dealers and lovers of the salty raw delicacy are resting easier.
But while the Food and Drug Administration has backed down – for now – from the proposed 2011 bacterial treatment requirements for raw oysters in warmer months, the debate has shed light on a growing segment of Gulf oyster production that has sold treated oysters throughout the country for more than a decade.
Restaurant reviewer Brett Anderson weighs in on the flavor of processed oysters.
Most raw oyster aficionados have likely never come across the processed oysters at any local eateries. The two largest Gulf Coast companies that sell treated oysters on the halfshell during warm months – one in Houma and one in Franklin – have had success mostly with national wholesalers and out-of-state restaurant and hotel groups. Although the technology has been established for years, the process has had its share of controversy, leading to internal industry feuds and disagreements over the dangers of raw oysters.
David Grunfeld/The Times-PicayuneAt Motivatit Seafoods in Houma, oysters are placed in a cylinder that goes into a high-pressure water chamber that essentially deactivates the vibrio bacteria at the molecular level.
Louisiana bars and restaurants have mostly stuck to traditional raw oysters, with some chefs saying customers in the past have noticed a difference in taste when eating the processed oysters. The outcry from consumers and restaurants over the past few weeks suggested a strong allegiance to traditional raw Gulf oysters, which are more affordable than treated oysters and more bountiful than in any other region of the country.
“The vast overwhelming response we got from Gulf Coast restaurants was that people want the traditional raw oyster to be available in the future, period,” said Kevin Begos, executive director of the Franklin County Oyster & Seafood Task Force in Apalachicola, Fla. “In the Southeast, it’s really the last place in the U.S. where a working man or woman or student can have a dozen oysters for five or six or seven bucks.”
But in the nationwide scheme of oyster consumers, the New Orleans market is only a sliver of the total pie. Large food distributors such as Sysco have sold processed oysters for years, and banquet and buffet spreads at Las Vegas casinos are likely to feature the treated products.
“Post-harvest processing has found a niche, and the niche is not always for health and safety reasons. Some of it is for convenience: It has a longer shelf life. The meat is already shucked from the shell,” said Mike Voisin, president of Motivatit Seafoods in Houma, which has one of two available bacteria-killing processes that can be used for oysters in warm months. “There’s some heritage and culture you miss there, but if you’re in Iowa somewhere, there’s probably not a lot of oyster heritage and culture there. You just want a product you can present.”
On the Gulf Coast, there are currently three methods in use that are recognized to significantly reduce the risk of vibrio vulnificus, a rare but potentially deadly bacteria present in Gulf oysters that is responsible for about 15 deaths each year. The disease mostly affects those who have immune disorders, particularly liver disease.
Only two of the three bacteria-killing processes – low-heat pasteurization and hydrostatic pressure – are applicable to oysters harvested during the warm months from April through October. The other process, individual quick freezing, deep freezes oysters, usually with the top shells removed.
At this point, those processes apply to only about 15 percent to 20 percent of the Gulf’s current production. The Gulf is responsible for about two-thirds of all oyster production in the country.
David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune‘FDA has proposed this for 15 years, and that was the impetus for doing AmeriPure oysters,’ said AmeriPure managing partner Patrick Fahey, left, who teamed up with Plaquemines Parish oyster farmer John Tesvich, right, to test the market in the ’90s.
The freezing process is the most prevalent post-harvest processing technology available in the United States, but most in the industry say it is not applicable to the smaller, thinner oysters harvested during the summer months.
For treated oysters, the end product is markedly different from the sack of live oysters you might see being shucked at one of the area’s raw bars.
For one, the processed oysters are sold with bands around them – a necessary step to prevent the shells from popping open during the bacterial treatment process. That makes them generally easier to pry open, requiring less of the labor-intensive shucking that New Orleanians are accustomed to seeing. Usually the oysters have been washed, meaning shells are free of the typical gritty mud coating.
But perhaps the biggest difference is that vibrio treatment processes kill the oyster, whereas raw oysters straight from the boat remain alive until they are shucked and eaten.
The pasteurization and high pressure processing techniques were invented in the 1990s, as the FDA and a consumer group called the Center for Science in the Public Interest were turning up the heat on the Gulf oyster industry. The risks from vibrio vulnificus had received more and more attention from the FDA, with the agency requiring warning signs in restaurants where raw oysters were consumed.
Oyster prices soon took a tumble due to consumer worries.
AmeriPure Oysters got its start in 1995, after a confrontation similar to the one last month between FDA and the oyster industry over vibrio vulnificus. The FDA at that time agreed to let the industry set vibrio regulations, but AmeriPure’s founders believed that the agency would eventually shut down the raw oyster market in the Gulf during the summer because of the health concerns.
“When somebody says that this was coming out of left field, that is coming from somebody who doesn’t know anything about the oyster industry. FDA has proposed this for 15 years, and that was the impetus for doing AmeriPure oysters,” said managing partner Patrick Fahey, who teamed up with Plaquemines Parish oyster farmer John Tesvich to test the new market in the ’90s. “If you don’t change the business paradigm when you have big guns pointed at you, you’ll be out of business soon enough. And the FDA represented big guns back in ’94.”
Working with LSU’s Department of Food Science, Tesvich and Fahey, who used to run the Delta Queen Steamboat Company, patented the pasteurization process to essentially eliminate the vibrio bacteria from oysters.
Workers at their plant in Franklin sort oysters by size, putting rubber bands around each one to prevent the shells from opening during the pasteurization process.After they are banded, the oysters are set on a tray and sent slowly on a conveyor through a vat of 126-degree water for 24 minutes. Afterward, the heated oysters are placed into a separate tub of near-freezing water to prevent the oyster from cooking.
For the first five years the company struggled financially. And AmeriPure’s marketing tactics, often highlighting the dangers of eating raw oysters, won few friends in the oyster industry.
In 1999, some partners in thecompany were party to a lawsuit that asked a state judge to requirethat all Louisiana oysters go througha bacterial treatment process. Many in the industry, including Voisin, who now has another bacteria-killing process, cried foul.
Tesvich and Fahey now say they regret being involved in the suit.
As AmeriPure was getting its start, Voisin’s company, Motivatit Seafoods, came along with a different bacterial treatment process in 1999. The high hydrostatic pressure technology essentially deactivates the vibrio bacteria at the molecular level by subjecting the oysters to intense water pressure.
Oysters are placed into a cylinder that goes into the high pressure water chamber. Water is then pumped into the chamber surrounding the cylinder for three minutes, exerting pressures of 35,000 to 40,000 pounds per square inch – twice the pressure of the Mariana Trench, the deepest ocean location on Earth.
David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune‘We don’t believe in a nanny state. We should have the opportunity to make choices, and we should be educated about those choices,’ said Mike Voisin, president of Motivatit Seafoods in Houma. Motivatit sells banded, raw oysters just as AmeriPure does, but the company also uses the high-pressure technology as a way to more efficiently shuck oyster meat.
A sizable part of Motivatit’s business comes from sales of shucked oyster meat in gallon or pint containers. The pressure opens the oysters, allowing workers to more quickly get at the oyster meat.
Joey Oysters, a processor in Amite, also has the high-pressure technology. Officials with the company did not return calls seeking comment.
Although AmeriPure and Motivatit have the post-harvest processing technology in place, the owners have different views on the risks posed by raw oysters.
Although about 50 percent of his business is in selling treated oysters, Voisin was one of the loudest critics of the FDA proposed requirements. Fahey and Tesvich of AmeriPure, which sells about 90 percent of its oysters pasteurized, took no official position, but said they anticipated the stricter regulations years ago and have adjusted their business model to adapt.
Although the FDA has put off enacting its regulations, AmeriPure has plans to expand its operations to another plant in Plaquemines Parish partly using a competitive grant program from the state.
“This has been the No. 1 topic affecting oysters for the past 19 years. When you’re faced with a problem, it’s how you react to the problem. It’s about fighting back and making the best of it,” Tesvich said. “If you’re not dealing with it, if you’re in denial, that’s not a good way to handle this.”
Tesvich and Fahey also argue that the risks posed by vibrio vulnificus have turned off consumers in higher-end markets on the west and east coasts, where some select Pacific oysters can go for $4 or $5 each. California, for example, banned Gulf oysters in 2003 that had not undergone the bacterial treatment process.
“The Gulf has helped those guys do a wonderful job and command big money for the oysters, because we’ve been kept out. There’s a stigma attached,” Fahey said. “If the stigma comes off the Gulf oyster, the Gulf oyster’s going to find fans in other parts of the country where they’re currently not doing too well.”
Voisin has taken a different approach, arguing that consumers deserve a choice in the type of oysters they eat, and should be aware of the risks when eating raw oysters.
“We don’t believe in a nanny state. We should have the opportunity to make choices, and we should be educated about those choices,” Voisin said. “We’re not trying to do it saying the traditional market is a problem. The traditional product is safe unless you’re part of that at-risk group.”
Chris Kirkham can be reached at ckirkham@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3321.
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