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DEFINITIONS

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Approved Area - The classification of a shellfish growing area which has been approved by the shellfish control authority for growing or harvesting shellfish for direct marketing. The classification of an approved area is determined through a sanitary survey conducted by the shellfish control authority in accordance with Chapter 2 of this Manual. An approved shellfish growing area may temporarily be made a closed area when a public health emergency, resulting from for instance, a hurricane or flooding, is declared.

Blower - A container for washing shucked shellfish which uses forced air as a means of agitation.

Canadian Shellfish Sanitation Program - A program to classify harvesting areas and control the commercial and recreational harvesting of molluscs and processing of product for the consumer market.

Certification Number - The number assigned by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to each certified shellfish dealer. It consists of a one to five digit number preceded by the two letter province abbreviation and followed by the two letter symbol designating the type of operation certified.

Closed Area - A growing area where the harvesting of shellfish is temporarily or permanently not permitted, except by special permit for specific purposes.

Coliform Group - The coliform group includes all of the aerobic and facultative anaerobic, Gram-negative, non spore-forming bacilli which ferment lactose with gas formation within 48 hours at 35 ^oC.

Commingling - The act of combining different lots of shellfish or shucked shellfish.

Conditionally Approved Area - The classification of a shellfish growing area determined by the shellfish control authority to meet approved area criteria for a predictable period. The period is conditional upon established performance standards specified in a management plan. A conditionally approved shellfish growing area is a closed area when the area does not meet the approved growing area criteria and is temporarily closed by the shellfish control authority.

Container - any bag, sack, tote, conveyance or other receptacle used for containing shellfish for holding or transporting.

Container Relaying - The transfer of shellfish from closed areas to approved areas for natural biological cleansing in a container using the ambient environment as a treatment system.

Controlled Purification or Depuration - The process of using a controlled, aquatic environment to reduce the level of bacteria and viruses in live shellfish.

Dealer - A commercial shellfish shipper, reshipper, shucker-packer, repacker, or depuration processor or operation.

Depuration Plant - A depuration plant is a facility of one or more depuration units. A depuration unit is a tank or series of tanks supplied by a single process water system.

Depuration Processor (DP) - A person who receives shellstock from approved or closed growing areas and submits such shellstock to an approved controlled purification process.

Dry Storage - The storage of shellstock out of water.

Emergency Closure - An approved shellfish harvesting area may be closed when it is suspected that shellfish may be contaminated as a result of an emergency situation which is not predictable nor controllable under a routine monitoring program. These emergency situations may include natural or operational events such as hurricanes, flooding, and emergency oil, toxic chemical and major sewage spills.

Extended Container Relaying - transfer of shellfish from closed areas to approved areas for natural biological cleansing in a container, using the ambient environment as a treatment system, for a period of 14 days or greater.

Faecal Coliform Group - The faecal coliform group includes bacteria of the coliform group which will produce gas from lactose in a suitable multiple tube procedure liquid medium (EC or A-1) within 24 ± 2 hours at 44.5 ± 0.2 ^oC in a water bath .

Growing Area - An area which supports or could support live shellfish.

Harvest Lot - a collection of bulk shellstock or containers of shellstock from a defined growing area taken by one or more harvesters and removed from the water for delivery to the processing plant on the same day. Where the amplitude of the tide does not allow harvesting except during a low-running (spring) tide, the product can be wet stored on the beach for a maximum of two weeks and taken to the processing plant as a lot.

Harvester - A person who takes shellfish, by any means, from a growing area.

Harvesting record - is an official record identifying where, when, and the quantity of shellfish that was harvested by a harvester.

Heat Shock - The process of subjecting shellstock to any form of heat treatment, such as steam, hot water or dry heat for a short period of time prior to shucking to facilitate removal of the meat from the shell without substantially altering the physical or organoleptic characteristics of the shellfish.

Lease - A defined geographic area in a marine environment described by a federal or provincial agency and approved by the Competent Authority (Shellfish Control Agency or provincial equivalent) for the purposes of culturing, harvesting and/or relaying (exploratory or commercial) of bivalve molluscs. This definition includes all tenures, licenses of occupation or permits issued to an individual, group or company by the Competent Authority.

LEO (Lab Evaluation Officer) - A laboratory manager standardised to evaluate laboratories wishing to analyse shellfish or water samples in support of the CSSP.

Lot of Shellstock - A collection of bulk shellstock or containers of shellstock of no more than one day's harvest from a single defined growing area by one or more harvesters.

Lot of Shellstock for Depuration - Shellstock harvested from an area at a particular time and delivered to one depuration plant.

Lot of Shucked Shellfish - A collection of containers of no more than one day's shucked shellfish product produced under conditions as nearly uniform as possible and designated by a common container code or marking.

Marine Biotoxins - Poisonous compounds accumulated by shellfish feeding upon toxin containing dinoflagellates, such as Alexandrium (formally Gonyaulax and Protogonyaulax) cantenella, A. fundyense, A. tamarensis, and Ptychodiscus brevis, or marine diatoms such as Nitzschia pungens.

Most Probable Number (MPN) - The MPN is a statistical estimate of the number of bacteria per unit volume and is determined from the number of positive results in a series of fermentation tubes.

National Shellfish Sanitation Program (NSSP) - The cooperative United States, State-Food & Drug Administration (FDA)-Industry program, for certification of interstate shellfish shippers as described in the NSSP Manual of Operations, Parts I and II. Foreign governments may be members by having a current Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or agreement with the FDA.

Natural Relaying - transfer of shellfish from closed areas to approved areas for natural biological cleansing, using the ambient environment as a treatment system (Houser, 1964) for periods of 14 days or greater.

Poisonous or Deleterious Substance - A toxic compound occurring naturally or added to the environment that may be found in shellfish for which a regulatory tolerance limit or action level has been established or may be established to protect public health. Examples of naturally occurring substances would be paralytic shellfish toxins and trace elements, such as mercury, geologically leached from the environment. Examples of added substances would be agricultural pesticides and polynuclear aromatics from oil spills.

Process Batch - a quantity of shellstock used to fill each separate tank, or series of tanks, supplied by a single process water system for a specified depuration cycle in a depuration activity.

Prohibited Area - Distinct areas or areas within closed growing areas that are prohibited to shellfish harvesting for any purposes.

Quality Management Program (QMP) - A fish inspection and control system, that includes procedures, inspections and records, for the purpose of verifying and documenting the processing of fish and the safety and quality of fish processed in, exported from or imported into Canada.

Relaying - The transfer of shellfish from closed areas to approved areas for natural biological cleansing using the ambient environment as a treatment system (Houser 1964).

Remote Shellfish Area - A shellfish growing area that has no human habitation and is not impacted by any actual or potential pollution sources.

Repacker (RP) - A person other than the original certified shucker-packer who repacks shucked shellfish into other containers. A repacker may also repack and ship shellstock. A repacker shall not shuck shellfish.

Reshipper (RS) - A person who purchases shucked shellfish or shellstock from other certified shippers and sells the product without repacking or relabelling to other shippers, wholesalers or retailers.

Restricted for Controlled Purification - the median or geometric mean faecal coliform MPN of water does not exceed 88/100 mL and not more than 10% of the samples exceed a faecal coliform MPN of 260/100 mL, for a five-tube decimal dilution test.

Restricted for Relaying - areas within closed areas in which the median faecal coliform Most Probable Number (MPN) of the water exceeds 14/100 mL, and/or more than 10% of the samples exceed a faecal coliform MPN of 43/100 mL, for a five-tube decimal dilution test. These areas must not be within a prohibited area.

Sanitary Survey - The evaluation of all actual and potential pollution sources and environmental factors having a bearing on shellfish growing area water quality.

Sanitize - The treatment to adequately treat food-contact surfaces by a process that is effective in destroying vegetative cells of microorganisms of public health significance and in substantially reducing the number of other undesirable microorganisms, but without adversely affecting the product or its safety for the consumer.

Scheduled Controlled Purification Process - A process which places shellfish harvested from closed or approved waters into a controlled aquatic environment selected by the processor and approved by the shellfish control agency as adequate to effectively reduce the level of bacteria and viruses in live shellfish.

Scheduled Heat Shock Process - The process selected by the processor and approved by the shellfish control agency to heat shock a shellfish species in order to facilitate shucking without adversely affecting the microbial quality or altering the organoleptic characteristics of the species.

Seed - Any submarket size bivalve shellfish that has been gathered directly from the wild, or grown in a hatchery, and transplanted or relayed to a private lease site or public shellfish bed for grow-out.

Shellfish - All edible species of oysters, clams, mussels and scallops* either shucked, in the shell, fresh or fresh frozen or whole or in part. For the purposes of marine biotoxin control predatory gastropod molluscs shall also be included.

* Except for the adductor muscle

Shellstock - Shellfish in the shell.

Shellfish Control Agency - The department or agencies of the Government of Canada that are signatories to the interdepartmental Memorandum of Understanding which is found in Appendix V of this manual and that have the responsibility to provide reasonable assurance that shellfish are safe for human consumption.

Shellstock Shipper (SS) - A person who grows, harvests, buys, or repacks and sells shellstock. They are not authorised to shuck shellfish nor to repack shucked shellfish. A shellstock shipper may also ship shucked shellfish.

Short-term Container Relaying - transfer of shellfish from closed areas to approved areas for natural biological cleansing in a container using the ambient environment as a treatment system for periods of less than 14 days.

Shucked Shellfish - Shellfish, whole or in part, from which one or both shells have been removed.

Shucker Packer (SP) - A person who shucks and packs shellfish. A shucker packer may act as a shellstock shipper or may repack shellfish originating from other certified dealers.

Spat - Newly settled spawn of bivalve shellfish that has been cultivated in a laboratory or hatchery or collected from the wild using a variety of techniques (e.g., monofilament lines, cement-coated collectors, etc.).

Spring Tide - a tide of increased range that occurs twice monthly at the new and full phases of the moon.

Transaction Record - A form(s) used to document each purchase or sale of shellfish at the wholesale level.

Turbidity - Reduced water clarity resulting from the presence of suspended matter.

Wet Storage - The temporary storage of "live" shellfish from approved sources, intended for marketing, in containers or floats in natural bodies of seawater or in tanks containing natural or synthetic seawater.