Internal Temperature of Steamed Clams

Abstract

INFECTIOUS hepatitis following ingestion of raw shellfish has been recognized as a significant public-health problem for only a decade. A recent epidemiologic study has suggested that steamed clams may also be an important vehicle for the agent of infectious hepatitis, at least in the New England region.¹ These data made it necessary to assume that the steaming of clams, as routinely practiced, is inadequate to destroy or inactivate the virus of infectious hepatitis. No data, however, were available on the internal temperature of clam tissues during steaming. The present study was undertaken to determine how internal clam temperature and opening . . .