Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1895-03-16
BAD TRICK IN OYSTERS.
Soaking Them In Fresh Water t0
Make Them Swell Up.

The revelations of the fatal results
of the practice of the Fair Haven
wholesale dealers in oysters of putting
their oysters for twenty-four hours
or more in the Quinnfpiac River before
sending them to market, has greatly
injured the oyster trade there, says
the Hartford Times. The same thing
is true of the effect on Hartford. When
the Times came out with the facts
showing the results of the investiSa-
ton by the State Board Of Health and
by Prof. Conn. OF the mysterious out
break of typhoid fever among the
Wesleyan students at Middletown,
and calling attention to the circum-
stance that most of the oysters furnish
ed for the Connecticut market came
from these Fair Haven and East Ha-
ven dealers, there WAS sudden falling
off in the call for oysters. Some of
the Hartford dealers FASTENED to adj
yertise, the next day, that they did not
get their oysters from any of the Fair
Haven dealers, but from Baltimore di-
rect. Very likely other dealers will
find it necessary to cease dealing with
the Fair Haven firms; for, even if there
We're a public promise by the latter
that they would no longer soak" their
oysters in the foul Quinnipiac stream,
the public would still distrust all oys-
tiers coming from the Quinnipiac re-
gion. For the temptation to soak"
the shell oysters just before putting
them into the market is a double one;
first, it is profitable, for it greatly in
of
makes a gallon of them when shelled
measure far more than would the
same number freshly opened out of
salt water; and secondly, it gives to
the opened oyster whittier, more solid
and inviting appearance. There seems
to be no other available fresh-water
stream at or near New Haven which
could be used for this purpose, and the
foul Quinnipiac seems likely to be still
used for oyster soaking as long as the
public will purchase such oysters. The
dealers know this process of treating
the shell-fsh by the phrase giving
them a drink
What the 'drink" consists of may be
inferred from the fact that the Quinni-
| piac, where the oysters are thus placed
after being taken from their salt water
beds, is little else than big open sew
er. Into it empty, close to these soak
ing" places, and where the sewage can
be carried directly to the oysters, two
| public sewers-to say nothing of 100
drains. One Of the oyster soakers has
just had two cases of typhoid in his
| own family-his wife, who died, and
| hi n
ease. His house stands not far back
| from the river and it's short drain en-
ties into it near the place where the
oysters are bedded temporarily"
The investigation of the cases of the
Wesleyan students indicated pretty de-
cisively that it was ''raw" oysters that
caused the typhoid fever outbreak
there and also that the oysters had
been placed for twenty-four hours in
the Quinnipiac before sending them to
Middletown. Cooking these bivalves,
no doubt, much diminishes Cbut does
not wholly remove) the chances of
getting live typhoid bacilli into the
| stomach; and, as in the case of trich-
inae-infested pork, it is desirable, if
one is willing to take the risk rather
than fOregO the pleasure of eating
| oysters that have been swollen by Quin-
| nipiac juice, to cook them thoroughly
before eating. The oysters that were
sent to Middletown were intended ex-
clusively for raw eating; the Fair
| Haven dealer who furnished them tes-
! tifying that he never placed in the
! Quinnipiac any that were not intended
| for that form of use.
1t is said that salt water kills the
typhoid germ. However that may be,
fresh water is needed to make the
oysters grow rapidly plump There
are uncontaminated fresh water
| streams emptying into Long Island
sound, and if the oysters must be
| given pull at fresh water before being
marketed such streams should be used.
Fair Haven and it's neighborhood
have been for great many years the
| centers of the Connecticut oyster
trade, now grown to great proportions
| How many of these annual November
outbreaks of typhoid, in so many COM
munities, have been directly due to
/ germ-infested oysters from the Quin-
nipiac nobody can tell. But the exam
nation made by DR.. Lindsay and the
State Board of Health, of forty or
fifty cases of typhoid in New Haven,
leaves no doubt or question that this
years cases are to an important ex-
| tent due to that very cause. One
| greatly dislikes to give up the dish of
oySters-one of the most attractive
| dishes on tho table. but If If is SIM
piled from Fair Haven it must be pref
| ty thoroughly cooked.