Monday 11 August 2014

Will you resume eating oysters next month?

Traditionally one avoids oysters in months without an "r" and August is the last summer month with no such consonant. But as ever arguments reign in the world of oyster production about the health of these molluscs (are they molluscs?). Most recent years sales have been hit by contamination but traditional producers are now complaining that the use of sterile 3 chromosome oysters is leading to over production of cheap, tasteless oysters and dependence on a few suppliers. Because these oysters are sterile the ostreiculteurs must buy new stocks from the monopolistic suppliers (shades of Monsanto). The French adore their oysters but is the industry going the same way as pig, chicken and salmon production, with more and more intensive rearing of the products to keep prices down and profits up. One assumes that there will be no "cruelty to oysters" outcry, but the continued pollution of the seas and estuaries makes it hard for the traditional "bio" producers to compete.
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