Buying oysters

When buying oysters, you can request to see the “shellfish tag,” a legally required documentation of the harvest date and origin of the oysters. Every retailer and restaurant is required to have a shellfish tag for each bag of oysters that they purchase for up to 90 days after that purchase. One expert says, “if they don’t have that tag, I wouldn't eat those oysters.” She recommends looking for the most recent date on the tag (whether it’s the “final harvest date”, or “wet storage date”) - anything further out than 2 weeks won't taste as good and increases the risk of a bad oyster.