Culture
The Hidden Danger in Eating Oysters
Why you should steer clear of raw mollusks.
From the stand-up street food of the 1800s to the power lunches and happy hours of today, oysters on the half shell have always been a staple of New York City dining. But there are hidden risks in throwing back a plate of raw bivalves—and they go deeper than the old rule about eating oysters only in months containing “r.”
That adage, which warns against oyster-slurping May through August, has been widely discredited. It’s a relic of the days before refrigeration, when the summer spawning season made oysters especially susceptible to contamination. With the advent of new technology and new breeds that don’t reproduce in the summer, we can now enjoy the bivalves year-round.