BATHS FOR OYSTERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23631, 15 October 1938, Page 11

BATHS FOR OYSTERS

TO OVERCOME POLLUTION SYDNEY “CLEANSING” PROPOSAL SYDNEY, Oct. 10. Sales of oysters from Middle Harbour, prohibited at present because that arm of Port Jackson is a proc’aimed “polluted area, may be permitted shortly provided the oysters are first given a “ bath under supervision in George’s River, a noted oyster-farming area. The Fisheries Department may sell the rights to carry out this •• cleansing.” An officer of the department said that oysters, when placed in clean water, cleansed themselves in 10 or 14 days. Strict supervision would be exercised in both the taking of the oysters and in their cleansing. Arrangements v/ere being made with the approval of the Inspector-general of Health The chief inspector of the Board of Health, Mr C V Francis, said that the ban on the removal of oysters and other shellfish from the harbour had been imposed many years ago because of the danger of pollution, particularly from ships, but the oysters were not diseased. In America, it was a common practice to take oysters from polluted areas and place them in water that had been chlorinated for cleansing. Many of the oysters would carry typhoid germs before they were cleansed.