gnu, A bit of info from a topic yesterday.

I did a bit of research on the net, and the Domoic Acid incident, where people were sick and there were at least one death (possibly in Quebec) was from commercially grown mussels from eastern PEI. It was 1987 and there have been no cases since, as testing has been put in place (they did not know the stuff existed locally before this occured).

So, you were correct, and my recollection was wrong (it was not oysters). However, they did put a quarintine on all shellfish -not just marine filter-feeders(commercial and wild, including clams and oysters) for some time after, while they figured it out.

However, the concern for mussels-first has little to do with the flushing associated with commercial mussels. It is because mussels (wild or farmed) filter these toxins present faster into their bodies than the other filter feeders. They are used as "first indicators" BTW, scallops are filter feeders, but the toxins do not accumulate in the muscle (the hinge-meat, which is eaten with scallops) just the organs, which we eat with most other filter feeders.

Check it out below:

PSP and Domoic Acid