Resumo

The degradation of coastal environments in addition to harming economy, undertakes fishing and extraction activities, by compromising the quality of water and sediment, due to the inflow of industrial, agricultural effluents and, specially the domestic sewage. The consumption of marine organisms, especially filter feeding organisms, may have great influence on human health, since they retain and concentrate in their tissues much of the suspend particles, including pathogenic microorganisms, such as virus and bacteria. Oysters and clams are widely consumed, mostly raw, may causes gastroenteritis and other illness, meaning a serious public health problem. The Cananéia region is the largest oysters producer in the State of São Paulo, and in 1999 was founded the Cooperostra (oyster producers’ cooperative of Cananéia), which promotes the debugging process into sterile tanks, leading to reduction and/or elimination of substances retained in the tissues. This study aimed to evaluate the concentration of Staphylococcus sp. and Salmonella sp. in soft tissues and intervalvar fluid specimens of Crassostrea brasiliana, verifying the efficiency of purification process. Water samples were analyzed before and after the cleaning process to verify the presence of the following bacteria: Total and Thermotolerant Coliforms, and Escherichia coli . Abiotic parameters were also mensured, such as pH, temperature and salinity. In samples of oysters were checked the following bacteria: Total and Thermotolerant Coliforms, Staphylococcus sp. and Salmonella sp. The results showed a decrease in bacterial concentrations in the tissues after the purification process, although concentrations of Staphylococcus sp. levels were elevated, which could be indicative of contamination by handling. The results of Salmonella sp. is in accordance with the RDC nº 12.