Effect of Chlorinated Wash Water on Vibrio cholerae in Oyster Meats

ABSTRACT

Live oysters exposed to seawater artificially contaminated with Vibrio cholerue, El Tor, Inaba, in a closed system for 18 hr were harvested, shucked, sampled and placed into blower tanks containing 25 and 50 ppm chlorine for 5- and 10-min intervals in each tank. Regardless of chlorine concentrations encountered during the blowing process, V. cholerae MPNs of oyster meats sampled after the prescribed contact period were essentially equivalent to those of oysters sampled at the end of the 18-hr exposure period. Chlorination of the water used in blower tanks did not eliminate V. cholerae, El Tor, Inaba, organisms from oyster meats.