1
00:00:01,840 --> 00:00:07,560
Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

2
00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:12,600
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum. Here, there's an old saying that you should

3
00:00:12,640 --> 00:00:15,600
Speaker 1: never eat raw oysters in any month that doesn't have

4
00:00:15,680 --> 00:00:19,760
Speaker 1: the letter R in its name. Most months do. The

5
00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,639
Speaker 1: only ones without an R happened to be May, June, July,

6
00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:28,960
Speaker 1: and August. But why is this and is it really true?

7
00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:31,400
Speaker 1: The idea behind the saying is that it's unsafe to

8
00:00:31,440 --> 00:00:34,520
Speaker 1: eat oysters during these months because it could make you sick.

9
00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:37,600
Speaker 1: You'll notice that these four months fall in a block

10
00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:40,159
Speaker 1: towards the end of spring through the heat of summer

11
00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:43,960
Speaker 1: here in the northern hemisphere. That heat is why there

12
00:00:44,040 --> 00:00:48,599
Speaker 1: is a grain of truth behind this old saying. Okay,

13
00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,720
Speaker 1: we've talked before on the show about how bacteria live

14
00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,639
Speaker 1: all around us. Many are harmless, some are even helpful,

15
00:00:56,040 --> 00:01:00,360
Speaker 1: but some are pathogenic, meaning they can cause disease. There

16
00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:03,080
Speaker 1: are a number of species of bacteria in the genus

17
00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:06,640
Speaker 1: Vibrio that can cause nasty cases of food and water

18
00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,600
Speaker 1: borne illness. A cholera is caused by a Vibrio species.

19
00:01:11,520 --> 00:01:14,920
Speaker 1: Bacteria in this genus live mostly in salt water and

20
00:01:15,080 --> 00:01:17,919
Speaker 1: during warm weather, when the water temperature hits about sixty

21
00:01:17,920 --> 00:01:23,160
Speaker 1: eight degrees fahrenheit or twenty celsius. They absolutely thrive, for example,

22
00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:25,920
Speaker 1: in places like the Gulf of Mexico, where lots of

23
00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:31,320
Speaker 1: oysters are harvested, and in the past, before refrigeration technology

24
00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:35,520
Speaker 1: was available and affordable, oysters harvested in hot weather wouldn't

25
00:01:35,520 --> 00:01:38,000
Speaker 1: have been kept cold on their journey from the sea

26
00:01:38,160 --> 00:01:42,720
Speaker 1: to you. So eating raw oysters during the summer theoretically

27
00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,039
Speaker 1: could increase your chances of having contact with fibrio and

28
00:01:46,240 --> 00:01:51,560
Speaker 1: becoming sick. It doesn't help that it's hard to tell

29
00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:55,040
Speaker 1: with oysters and fibriel. Lots of the time, food that's

30
00:01:55,080 --> 00:01:57,800
Speaker 1: gone off and could give you food poisoning is gonna

31
00:01:57,880 --> 00:02:02,320
Speaker 1: smell or look bad. When food goes bad, it's because

32
00:02:02,360 --> 00:02:04,720
Speaker 1: microorganisms have started to eat it before you had a

33
00:02:04,800 --> 00:02:07,640
Speaker 1: chance to, and some of them might change the flavor

34
00:02:07,760 --> 00:02:10,680
Speaker 1: or color or texture of the food, and some of

35
00:02:10,680 --> 00:02:16,800
Speaker 1: them might be pathogenic. Unfortunately, oysters carrying fibriobacteria don't usually

36
00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:19,520
Speaker 1: look or taste any different, so there's no way to

37
00:02:19,560 --> 00:02:22,839
Speaker 1: know until twenty four to forty eight hours later, when

38
00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:27,519
Speaker 1: gastonitis sets in. You know the fever, chills, nausea, diarrhea.

39
00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:30,920
Speaker 1: It'll usually pass on its own, though cases can be

40
00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:36,680
Speaker 1: severe or even deadly. But let's be clear, infections caused

41
00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:41,280
Speaker 1: by Fibrio species are rare these days. Americans consume nearly

42
00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:45,880
Speaker 1: two point five billion oysters every year. The CDC estimates

43
00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:49,040
Speaker 1: that we have about eighty thousand Fibrio related illnesses and

44
00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:51,760
Speaker 1: one hundred deaths, about half of which are due to

45
00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:57,519
Speaker 1: contaminated food. That's not very many cases compared to say, salmonilla,

46
00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:00,480
Speaker 1: which causes one point two million illnesses and four hundred

47
00:03:00,480 --> 00:03:04,640
Speaker 1: and fifty deaths every year. Still, it's something to be

48
00:03:04,680 --> 00:03:07,280
Speaker 1: aware of, especially if you're at risk for having a

49
00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:10,399
Speaker 1: worse bout of illness from a potential Vibrio infection due

50
00:03:10,440 --> 00:03:15,400
Speaker 1: to being immunocompromised or having a liver condition. In those cases,

51
00:03:15,560 --> 00:03:19,040
Speaker 1: you might want to eat your oysters steamed, baked, deep fried.

52
00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:22,519
Speaker 1: There are plenty of non raw options, and cooking oysters

53
00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,640
Speaker 1: to a safe temperature will kill off any fibryobacteria that

54
00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:31,440
Speaker 1: may be present. However, these days, there are industry practices

55
00:03:31,520 --> 00:03:35,280
Speaker 1: and government regulations that make seafood like oysters as safe

56
00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:39,840
Speaker 1: as possible. A water quality can be monitored and for example,

57
00:03:39,880 --> 00:03:43,280
Speaker 1: in Louisiana, oyster boats are required to have on board

58
00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:46,840
Speaker 1: refrigeration to keep those slimy buddies cool from the moment

59
00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,320
Speaker 1: they leave the water, no matter what the weather's like.

60
00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:53,960
Speaker 1: Just make sure your raw oysters arrive to you refrigerated

61
00:03:54,120 --> 00:03:58,520
Speaker 1: or on ice. They should smell fresh and briny, not fishy,

62
00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:02,000
Speaker 1: and any reputable kitchen or market staff will be able

63
00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:04,400
Speaker 1: to tell you where they're from and when they were harvested,

64
00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:07,840
Speaker 1: because oysters legally have to come with those labels in

65
00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:15,600
Speaker 1: the United States. Today's episode is based on the article

66
00:04:15,760 --> 00:04:18,560
Speaker 1: Factor fiction Raw oysters are safe to eat every month

67
00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,599
Speaker 1: of the year on HowStuffWorks dot Com, written by Don Parretano.

68
00:04:22,200 --> 00:04:24,440
Speaker 1: Rain Stuff is production by Heart Radio in partnership with

69
00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:26,799
Speaker 1: how stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang.

70
00:04:27,440 --> 00:04:30,520
Speaker 1: Four more podcasts my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app,

71
00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:33,360
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.