use of moulariums in shops and restaurants
The FSA has recently written to local authorities with advice on
the use of tanks to store live oysters, mussels, clams, cockles and
scallops (bivalve molluscs) by shops and restaurants prior to sale.
This type of storage preserves the taste, colour, odour and feel of
the product.
According to this advice, such food products may only be cleaned
and conditioned with water at a dispatch centre where they are
packed for retail sale and then sent to retail outlets. Once they
have left the dispatch centre they cannot be re-immersed or sprayed
with water.
The FSA went on to consider whether it was possible to approve
restaurants and shops as dispatch centres, but concluded that this
would not be legally permissible. In consequence, the FSA view is
that storage or display of live oysters, mussels, clams, cockles or
scallops in tanks in which they are either immersed or sprayed with
water is unlawful in shops and restaurants.
