ABSTRACT
This paper provides details of the United Kingdom (UK) bivalve molluscan shellfish industry and depuration practices, a technical account of commercial depuration, and assesses the public health concerns. Whilst the technical and scientific statements are valid, opinions and observations on the UK industry are entirely personal. In some areas, the properties of the tides, sediments structure, and coastline configuration are simply not amenable for natural recruitment and growth of bivalve molluscan shellfish in commercially-exploitable quantities. The North East coast of England is too rocky to support commercially-significant inshore bivalve molluscan shellfisheries although scallops are caught further out in the North Sea. Regulatory control procedures for protection of shellfish consumers are enacted through the Public Health Regulations of 1934 and 1948. The temperature and cooking time required to ensure adequate cooking compatible with tolerable loss of meat quality has been recently calculated for use by the UK shellfish industry.
