France

In France a total of 1,033 people became ill and 21 needed hospital treatment in what seems to be a norovirus contamination of live oysters, according to Food Safety News. Sweden, Italy, and the Netherlands have all also reported outbreaks which can be traced back to France. Additionally, products have been recalled in Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Mats Lindblad, a communicable disease coordinator at the National Food Agency of Sweden states 31 people are sick linking the origin back to the French oysters through interviews. “Symptoms and incubation time indicate norovirus.

Modern technological advances continue apace in the seafood industry. Recently, an unmanned, remote-controlled vessel carried a shipment of British oysters from the UK, to Belgium, in an international trade first. Carrying five kg of oysters, the 12-meter ship’s 22-hour trip across busy shipping lanes was directed from a control room in Maldon and was supported by the U.K. Maritime and Coastguard Agency, the Department for Transport, the Foreign Office, officials in Belgium and the European Space Agency.