MORE than a half a tonne of illegally harvested oysters has been seized - the largest ever single seizure in Southend.

The haul, which was taken by the council’s environmental health officers, has an estimated value of more than £7,200.

Mark Flewitt, councillor for public protection, said: “Oysters collected from Southend’s beaches are not safe for human consumption without going through a lengthy purification process or being thoroughly cooked.

“This is why the commercial collection is tightly regulated, with a docketing system ensuring that oysters can be traced from their original source to their point of sale.

“When oysters are illegally harvested and sold on, none of these checks are in place and oysters carrying norovirus and other nasty illnesses can end up being sold on the black market with serious consequences for public health.

“What’s more, with the shellfish industry being such an important part of the borough’s economy, any illegal commercial activity undermines and undercuts our borough’s legitimate shellfish harvesters.

“Any subsequent food poisoning outbreak could severely damage the local industry’s international reputation for quality.”

It came about on Tuesday.

At noon, environmental health officers attended City Beach, in Southend, as part of their routine observations on shellfish beds.

The initial officer observed that a group of oyster pickers were harvesting substantial quantities of the prized shellfish out at a distance on the beach.

When supporting officers arrived, they found a group of six people collecting commercial amounts of oysters from the beach without the necessary paperwork.

Police were called to the incident and are continuing to investigate the circumstances around it.

A police spokesman confirmed they were on scene to assist the council officers with the incident.

The environmental health officers seized 600kgs of oysters with the equivalent of 200kg of them already of “shucked” on the beach and in plastic containers or carrier bags.

A further 100kg of live shellfish were found un-bagged in the mud and were left by the officers to re-disperse in the tide.

The commercial harvesting of oysters is strictly regulated in order to protect public health and prevent the outbreak of potentially fatal viruses.

Mr Flewitt added: “I’d like to thank our Environmental Health Officers and Essex Police for their swift and decisive action in preventing over half a tonne of unsafe shellfish from entering the food chain.”

The seized live oysters have been re-dispersed in the water, while the shucked oysters had to be destroyed.