Jennie Bourgeois

PANAMA CITY — Since 2005, companies that process shellfish in Bay, Franklin and Gulf counties have been sent nearly 80 letters from the state warning that they were in violation of various industry standards.

The three are the only area counties with processors licensed by the state.

Warning letters are sent after state officials identify a range of “deficiencies” during quarterly inspections. Problems found at area processors over the last three years included shellfish being kept in refrigerators that could not maintain temperatures below 45 degrees, fly tape hung over work tables, and shellfish lying directly on the floor where people walk, according to hundreds of pages of inspection documents reviewed by The News Herald.

The number of warning letters sent to the 29 processors in Bay, Gulf and Franklin counties varied, with some processors receiving none, and one receiving 11 within the last three-year period.

Warning letters are broken into two categories, “critical” deficiencies, which must be fixed before operation can continue, and “key” deficiencies, which must be fixed prior to follow-up inspections. The letters, however, are not enforcement actions. If deficiencies are not remedied by a certain date, fines are levied.

The most common critical deficiency found in the records reviewed by The News Herald was for bags of shellfish that did not have tags indicating they came from a licensed dealer.

Officials stressed that most processors will get a warning letter at some point, and they don’t always mean a poor operation.

“It is a pretty comprehensive inspection. If we see one piece of spider web in a corner, we write that up as a violation,” said Alan Peirce, bureau chief for the Division of Aquaculture.

Because the inspections are conducted quarterly, however, companies continue to process and sell shellfish for months before state inspectors have the opportunity to document both critical and key deficiencies.

For instance, Barber’s Seafood in Eastpoint has received 11 warning letters since 2005, the most of any area processor. In 2007 alone, Barber’s received three letters and 55 total deficiencies. Each deficiency found in 2007 eventually was remedied, but because of the quarterly inspection schedules, untold numbers of shellfish were processed and sold before state investigators were aware of any problems.

Barber’s owner, David Barber, said inspectors can write up a processor for almost anything.

“Sometimes I think if they don’t write you up for something, they don’t think they are doing their jobs,” he said. “If someone leaves a Coke bottle out, or see a fly flying around they can write you up.”

In an Aug. 25, 2006, inspection, state officials found 40 deficiencies at Barber’s, including condensation dripping on shellfish, “rodents, insects, or other vermin, or evidence of their activity (droppings or runs) in the facility,” and shucked shellfish sitting out while workers were on break.

Barber said he does not remember that visit.

In Bay County, Hunt’s Oyster Bar leads the county’s four processors with five warning letters issued since 2005. Hunt’s owner Randy Hunt did not return calls seeking comment.

David Heil, who has been with the Division of Aquaculture for 30 years, said it is difficult to term the number of warning letters received by a processor excessive because there are several factors that come into play.

“It’s important to understand each violation and the severity of each violation, as well as the type of shellfish processing firm,” he wrote in an e-mail.

He did say some companies do a better job than others avoiding warning letters.

“It is a fact that some processing firms do a better job of complying with rules compared with other processing firms,” he wrote.

The Department of Agriculture offers training and education to help companies that receive warnings, he said.

Prevent outbreaks

The Department of Agriculture’s strict inspection guidelines are intended to prevent outbreaks of shellfish-related illnesses.

“That has been the focus,” said Peirce. “We want to prevent instances where you have 10,000 all get sick at once because oysters were tainted.”

Of greatest concern is Vibrio vulnificus, a pathogen found in raw shellfish that is destroyed when they are cooked. Vibrio, a bacterium from the same family as cholera, can cause illness and even death among people who have chronic illnesses and eat raw shellfish.

“Vv is supposed to be in the water, it is there all the time, but it’s in higher concentration during summer months,” Peirce explained.

In 2008, a man Bay County medical examiners said was infected with Vibrio vulnificus died at Bay Medical Center. Doctors said he had a deficient liver, making him vulnerable. His family told The News Herald he had eaten contaminated oysters.

In July, it struck a 40-year-old who was in Panama City Beach for his wedding. He ate raw oysters a few days before the ceremony and awoke from a coma two weeks later. Both of his legs were amputated. He has since returned to his home in Lebanon, Ohio.

The Food and Drug Administration recently floated a ban on the sale of oysters from the Gulf of Mexico during warm months to prevent people from contracting Vibrio-related illnesses, but dropped the proposal after stiff backlash from the industry.

Each year, about 15 people die from consuming oysters, according to the FDA.

Peirce said his department can’t prevent all illness caused from Vibrio.

“If there is a single illness, it was not because of a failure of our program. It is not designed to stop natural occurring illnesses,” he said. “It will stop people

from getting sick from sewage treatment plants leaking or something like that.”