Coos Bay Oyster Company of Charleston, Oregon is expanding its previous recall of January 30 to include all of its shellstock oysters because they have the potential to be contaminated with Campylobacter, an organism that can cause serious and some times fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems.
Healthy persons infected with Campylobacter often experience diarrhea, headache and body ache, cramping, abdominal pain, and fever within two (2) to five (5) days after exposure to the organism. The diarrhea may be bloody and can be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. The illness typically lasts one (1) week and some infected persons do not have any symptoms. In persons with compromised immune systems Campylobacter occasionally spreads to the bloodstream and causes a serious life threatening infection.
Product was distributed through wholesale dealers and retail stores in Oregon and California.
Container is a red onion sack containing five (5) dozen shellstock oysters (various sizes) with a Coos Bay Oyster Co. label and shellstock tags with various harvest dates (December 2013-January 2014).
The recall is the result of an epidemiologic investigation of a Campylobacter outbreak in Oregon. There have been three (3) confirmed reported cases of Campylobacter illness related with the consumption of raw shucked oysters to date.
Coos Bay Oyster Company has ceased the production and distribution of the product as the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) and the company continue investigating the cause of the problem.