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OCT. 29 - The FDA has proposed a sales ban on Gulf of Mexico raw oysters (to take place in the summer months). This idea reveals the FDA’s piecemeal approach to food safety regulations that more often leaves citizens vulnerable to, rather than protected from, tainted food. (read more)

OCT. 23 - An unprecedented proposal to ban raw Gulf Coast oysters, developed unilaterally by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, will threaten thousands of jobs and crush a clean, sustainable fishery, according to food lovers, fishermen and community leaders. (read more)

A Food and Drug Administration decision to impose draconian new rules on oysters harvested from the Gulf of Mexico could wreck Louisiana's $300 million-a-year industry and restrict the diets of raw oyster lovers here and elsewhere for most of the year -- all in a misguided effort to prevent a serious but rare health threat. (read more)

How much damage can government do, how much fun can it destroy, and how much freedom can it take away in the name of public health and safety? We might find out in April 2011, when a new Food and Drug Administration rule on Gulf of Mexico oysters goes into effect. (read more)

Southerners whose roots extend into rural areas won’t have any trouble remembering family gatherings in wood-frame houses cooled by a breeze from the front screen door to the back. Those occasions often featured lavish spreads of home-cooked dishes passed down for generations. The meal was so plentiful that when dinner was over, the food was simply draped with a tablecloth to be removed at suppertime. (read more)

The federal government already limits when certain types of fish can be caught in order to protect aquaculture from being depleted by humans. Now it is considering restricting the harvesting of oysters in order to protect humans from themselves. It threatens to kill the Panhandle oyster industry, or at least make it very sick. (read more)