SHELLFISH 145 



the water supply washing the oyster beds, was traceable to the 

 discharges from typhoid fever patients. 



All shellfish are easily adaptable to filthy habits and surround- 

 ings. They appear to thrive in proportion to the amount of or- 

 ganic contamination of the water supply constituting the food 

 beds. It must, however, not be supposed that sewage and other 

 highly objectionable (to man) contamination is normal to the life 

 of the shellfish. We know that the domestic hog is fond of the 

 highly contaminated refuse materials from the kitchen known as 

 swill but we also know that hogs thrive better on sanitary food. 

 Thus the filth feeding oyster grows equally well, if not better, in 

 clean sea water, that is, water free from sewage contamination and 

 decayed animal matter. 



The danger from shellfish (to man) is due to the fact that these 

 animals are often from highly contaminated water supplies and 

 that they are generally eaten raw or only partially cooked. The 

 possible diseases traceable to the eating of shellfish are Asiatic 

 cholera (in countries where this disease prevails), typhoid fever 

 and a variety of less severe intestinal diseases such as dysentery, 

 colitis and intestinal ulcerations. The work of the food bacteri- 

 ologist is, however, not the finding of the specific germs causing an 

 epidemic, but rather an endeavor to ascertain the danger point in 

 the quality of the food as represented by the positive colon bacillus 

 tests. The prime object of the pure food laws is the maintenance 

 of health rather than finding the cause of disease. This most 

 important fact is sometimes not understood as is clearly indicated 

 by a supreme court decision permitting the bleaching of flour. 

 It is the intent of the pure food law to clearly mark the danger 

 points in our food supplies so that the consumer may maintain 

 his physical well-being through the avoidance of such dangers. 

 He who advises against the heeding of the proper and timely warn- 

 ings set up by those entrusted with this duty, either through 

 ignorance or indifference, is a menace to the public welfare. The 

 danger sign, "avoid bleached flour" and not the actual physical 



