ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses National Shellfish Sanitation Program (NSSP) required quality assurance practices, including routine physical, chemical, and microbiological tests, for monitoring critical variables associated with depuration process water and shellfish under operational conditions. The NSSP recognizes that controlled purification or depuration of molluscan shellfish is a complex biological process. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not certify private laboratories to conduct NSSP required analyses. Therefore, the State must have an FDA-approved laboratory evaluation officer to certify private laboratories used to support commercial depuration operations. To ensure effective water treatment unit operation, safety, and normal physiological activity of each shellfish species, the NSSP requires that untreated and treated process waters be sampled daily and subjected to certain routine physical, chemical, and microbiological tests. The sampling program provides for an adequate number of shellfish samples collected from representative locations within the tank and analyzed prior to and after depuration to assess the effectiveness of the process.
