Recalled Virginia oysters tied to salmonella reach D.C.

Recalled oysters linked to a multistate salmonella outbreak reached restaurants and retailers in the District of Columbia, according to a safety alert from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA is warning consumers and businesses not to eat, sell or serve whole shellstock oysters harvested by Little Wicomico Oyster Company from the Little Wicomico River in Virginia between Sept. 18 and Oct. 8. The company voluntarily recalled the oysters on Oct. 9, WUSA9 reported.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported Oct. 19 that 27 people in 12 states had fallen ill with Salmonella Telelkebir, a specific strain of the bacteria. Five required hospitalization. No deaths have been reported.

The recalled oysters were shipped to 16 states and the District, according to the FDA, and may have been further distributed. D.C. is on the distribution list alongside Maryland and Virginia.

No specific D.C. restaurants or retailers have been publicly identified as receiving the recalled product. Federal agencies have not published a consignee list naming individual businesses, a gap noted by food safety attorney Bill Marler on Marler Blog. No advisory from DC Health related to this recall appeared on the agency's website as of publication.

The case counts vary by source. The CDC's Oct. 19 update counted 27 illnesses in 12 states. But the Virginia Department of Health documented a larger total. Marler Blog, citing Virginia's outbreak page as of Oct. 14, reported 53 patients in 18 states. Food Safety News put Virginia's count at 55 across 19 states. Virginia characterized the CDC's 27 as a "genomic subgroup" within its broader total, according to Marler Blog.

Both counts are expected to grow. The CDC says it takes three to four weeks for a stool culture to become a sequenced isolate matched to an outbreak, Food Safety News reported.

The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture first identified the illness cluster, according to the FDA alert. The CDC's traceback found that Little Wicomico Oyster Company oysters were the only common source among seven people who reported eating raw oysters.

Virginia's health department temporarily closed the Little Wicomico River to shellfish harvesting effective Oct. 9, according to the FDA alert. The company has stopped harvesting from the affected area. Oysters from other Virginia growing areas are not part of the recall.

Salmonella symptoms include diarrhea, fever and stomach cramps, and usually start six hours to six days after exposure, according to the CDC. Children under 5, adults 65 and older, and people with weakened immune systems face higher risk of severe illness.

Anyone who bought oysters should check the shell stock tag for the harvester's certification number, VA-1421-SP, and harvest dates between Sept. 18 and Oct. 8. Matching oysters should be thrown away or returned. Surfaces and containers that touched the oysters should be washed with hot, soapy water.

D.C. restaurants and retailers should check shellstock tags and invoices for the same certification number and harvest dates, and dispose of any recalled product.