Shellfish Safety
Whether at home or out on the town, consumers are safe when purchasing shellfish from local markets and restaurants, because of the Federal Shellfish Tagging Program.
The Federal Shellfish Tagging Program is used to prevent shellfish from being illegally harvested from unsafe areas and then being sold to the public. Certified shellfish growing waters are regularly monitored by State Health Agencies for health hazards such as marine biotoxins, like red tide, and other marine pathogens, and it is up to the markets and restaurants to insure that all the shellfish that they buy is tagged appropriately.
Furthermore, markets and restaurants must keep the tags from all shellfish bags sold for at least 90 days, this provides a means of tracking the sources of their shellfish sales and will allow customers to know the freshness of their shellfish products.