Italian-made oysters are gourmet, with demand increasing by 20% between Christmas and New Year's. True connoisseurs know they rival French oysters in price (no more than €8 per kg), flavor, and plumpness. The secret, explains Fedagripesca-Confcooperative, lies in the quality of the farm water. And this is precisely what has put several French oyster farms into crisis due to a gastroenteritis outbreak. Norovirus contamination has caused a major shutdown of oyster production in several areas of Normandy since January 3rd and in Brittany since December 18th. This ban, which has not yet been lifted, has caused several cases of gastroenteritis in France. According to the French Regional Shellfish Farming Committee, the culprit is pollution from coastal discharges, fueled by low temperatures and heavy rainfall that have affected the purification plants. Italy, after France, is among the main consumers of oysters, almost all of which are imported, however, because domestic production does not exceed 170 tons per year, compared to 120 tons in France.
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