seafood to a minimum of 140ºF/60ºC.
Temperatures above 185ºF/82ºC are required
to eliminate some viruses. Some chemical
toxins produced by microbes survive cooking,
and can cause food poisoning even though the
microbes themselves are destroyed.
Among the most important microbes in
fish and shellfish are the following:
Vibrio bacteria, natural inhabitants of
estuary waters that thrive in warm
summer months. One species causes
cholera, another a milder diarrheal
disease, and a third (V. vulnificus),
usually contracted from raw oysters and
the deadliest of the seafood-related
diseases, causes high fever, a drop in
blood pressure, and damage to skin and
flesh, and kills more than half of its
victims.
Botulism bacteria, which grow in the
digestive system of unchilled fish and
produce a deadly nerve toxin. Most cases