The safety of oysters rests on TAMUG’s shoulders    

If you have ever ordered oysters at a restaurant, there is a high chance that the oyster has been tested and FDA-approved by Texas A&M University Galveston. The Seafood Safety Lab processes and tests oysters nationwide for harmful bacteria to ensure they are safe for consumption.

Before an oyster can make it to a plate, it must undergo a long process of testing and regulation to be deemed safe. Professor Mona Hochman, who oversees the lab, explains why this testing is necessary.

"A lot of oysters have really bad bacteria in them: Vibrio vulnificus and Vibrio parahaemolyticus," Hochman said. "This is something that occurs naturally. I mean, that bacteria has been around longer than we have."

Due to the dangers associated with consuming oysters, the FDA has established a process they must undergo to be considered safe.

"A lot of people will harvest oysters and they’ll do something called a ‘post-harvest process’ to the oysters.'" Hochman said. "They will freeze them, pasteurize them, or gamma radiate them, all to reduce those harmful bacteria numbers in the oyster. A lot of restaurants will only purchase these post-harvest oysters because they’re safer."

Once the oysters are "post-harvested," the Seafood Safety Lab steps in.

"In order to prove they're safer, these post-harvest processors must have their products tested by an FDA-certified lab before they can be sold to the public," Hochman said.

Hochman also described the unique way the lab tests the post-harvested oysters.

"We have to extract the bacteria from the oysters by putting them in a blender and making the grossest oyster smoothie, they’re disgusting. And we extract the bacteria and we can identify it." she said.

For the past 26 years, the Seafood Safety Lab has been the only lab in the country certified to conduct this testing. Every FDA-approved oyster consumed nationwide has been processed at this campus lab.

Hochman said the ideal candidate for an undergraduate position in the lab is a student eager to gain proficiency in a lab setting.

"If you can work in the microbiology lab and learn our techniques, you can work in any lab." Hochman said. "[Our undergraduates] generally need to be student workers who are at least a sophomore because they need to have some of that beginning lab experience."