PUBLIC DOCUMENT No. 25. 79 



Consumers, have your shellfish food shipped fresh to your 

 homes. Do not be alarmed over the popular opinion that all 

 shellfish are disease carriers. There is much less danger than 

 the public believes, and the reputation of the poor oyster has 

 been wrongly smirched for years. There is danger of disease 

 from eating infected shellfish, but the sanitary conditions of 

 modern marketing, and the restrictions on polluted waters at 

 the present time, practically guarantee the purity of most 

 Massachusetts shellfish. With shellfish as with milk there is 

 always danger even under the most rigid inspection, but that 

 danger is comparatively slight. The individual consumer may 

 insure his health by buying fresh shellfish which come from 

 grounds of known freedom from pollution, and by thorough 

 cooking, except when eaten "on the half shell." 



