Key TakeawaysRaw oysters can carry harmful bacteria that can make you sick.Oysters linked to outbreaks of food poisoning or recalls make the news from time to time—most recently, a man in Missouri died after eating raw oysters.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises that you always cook oysters before eating them to avoid foodborne illness.
Key Takeaways
Raw oysters can carry harmful bacteria that can make you sick.Oysters linked to outbreaks of food poisoning or recalls make the news from time to time—most recently, a man in Missouri died after eating raw oysters.The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises that you always cook oysters before eating them to avoid foodborne illness.
If you love oysters, your ears have probably perked up at all the bad press they’ve been getting lately: from theFood and Drug Administration (FDA) warning consumers not to eat oystersfrom certain regions over concerns about contamination toa man in Missouri diedafter eating raw oysters.
Do these headlines mean you need to avoid oysters this summer? Do all oysters carry a risk for foodborne illness? Are there any ways you can prevent food poisoning from oysters? Here’s what experts say.
Signs of Food Poisoning
Why Are Oysters Risky?
That filtration is great for the ocean ecosystem but makes eating oysters risky for humans because potentially harmful bacteria, viruses, or other pathogens can build up in the mollusk’s tissues. If you eat the oysters raw or undercooked, those germs can be passed along to you.
Vibriosis and Raw Oysters
The infection is calledvibriosis, and it can cause symptoms like nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, fever, and chills. In more severe cases, it can cause serious flesh-eating infections (for example, if juice from raw oysters gets into an open wound).
However, dying from vibriosis is pretty rare: According to the CDC, about 80,000 people in the United States are infected with vibriosis every year, but only 100 people die from it.
What Is Vibriosis?
How Can I Eat Oysters Safely?
Mary Ellen Phipps, MPH, RDN, LD, a registered dietitian, told Verywell that “eating raw oysters comes with a risk for foodborne illness, and unfortunately, there’s no way to detect if the raw oysters in front of you contain bacteria that could make you sick.”
According to Phipps, the only way to lower your risk of illness is to cook your oysters to an internal temperature of 145 degrees before eating them.
It’s also important to throw away any oysters with open shells before cooking. In-shell oysters can be boiled or steamed until the shells open. Shucked oysters should be broiled or boiled for at least 3 minutes to make sure they reach the appropriate temperature.
Is It Ever Safe to Eat Raw Oysters?
If you really like raw oysters, Phipps said that while the risk of getting infected with bacteria from them is never zero, it might be lower during colder months “when sea waters are colder and bacteria have less opportunity to grow.”
However, other “hacks” for eating raw oysters—like adding hot sauce, lemon juice, or alcohol—will not killVibrio vulnificusbacteria.
What This Means For YouRaw oysters can carry harmful bacteria that can make you sick. To avoid foodborne illness, always cook oysters properly (to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F) before eating them.
What This Means For You
Raw oysters can carry harmful bacteria that can make you sick. To avoid foodborne illness, always cook oysters properly (to an internal temperature of 145 degrees F) before eating them.
This Test Could Help You Check Your Food for Salmonella
5 SourcesVerywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Chesapeake Bay Foundation.Oyster fact sheet.Food and Drug Administration.Oysters and vibriosis.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Vibrio vulnificus& wounds.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Vibriospecies causing vibriosis: information for health professionals & laboratorians.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Vibrioand oysters.
5 Sources
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.Chesapeake Bay Foundation.Oyster fact sheet.Food and Drug Administration.Oysters and vibriosis.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Vibrio vulnificus& wounds.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Vibriospecies causing vibriosis: information for health professionals & laboratorians.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Vibrioand oysters.
Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation.Oyster fact sheet.Food and Drug Administration.Oysters and vibriosis.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Vibrio vulnificus& wounds.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Vibriospecies causing vibriosis: information for health professionals & laboratorians.Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Vibrioand oysters.
Chesapeake Bay Foundation.Oyster fact sheet.
Food and Drug Administration.Oysters and vibriosis.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Vibrio vulnificus& wounds.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Vibriospecies causing vibriosis: information for health professionals & laboratorians.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Vibrioand oysters.
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