Initial V. vulnificus loads were determined at day 0 (prior to depuration but post temperature abuse), and at days 3, 6, 10 and 14 during the depuration process. Twelve oysters were analyzed each time according to the 3-tube Most Probable Number (MPN) method described in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Bacteriological Analytical Manual (BAM) (FDA, 2002). The MPN procedure was followed by a colony lift and subsequent colony blot hybridization using a V.vulnificus-specific oligonucleotide probe (vvhA)(DNA Technology, Aarhus, Denmark) that targets the hemolysin
gene as previously described (Wright et al., 1993). Numbers of V. vulnificus are given as MPN/g of oyster tissue. For samples resulting in less than 3 MPN/g, 3 MPN/g was used for statistical analysis