Organic Oyster Shells?

[paneubert]

Oysters obtain the calcium carbonate for their shells by filtering it from the water. It is not obtained from a diet.

"Oyster larvae essentially “wrap” themselves around their few little individual molecules of calcium carbonate to get the shell started. They then add to their shell by filtering calcium out of the water."

This might interest you if you are interested in how oysters are farmed (if you can make it through the horrible formatting issues. They obviously didn't use plain text and instead copied and pasted from Microsoft Word into the site.

https://www.thekitchn.com/island-creek-oysters-grower-tour-192689

I guess it all comes down to how you define diet/eating versus just filtering. For me, filter feeders (which oysters are) are "eating" stuff from the water. Both to build their shell, as well as to build their protein/fat/carbs in the "meat" of the oyster. So then the question is really "When the meat is all gone and it is just a shell, does it matter what the oyster ate"? When it comes to if someone would consider it organic or not.

I suppose if someone accepted that ocean water and all that comes along with it is organic, then oysters are organic, both shell as well as meat. But if someone is worried about human wastewater and the things that come with that (prescription drugs both flushed whole, as well as excreted via urine and feces), then there are issues. Also runoff from agricultural fields, etc...

 

[SurferchickinSB]

I guess it all comes down to how you define diet/eating versus just filtering. For me, filter feeders (which oysters are) are "eating" stuff from the water. Both to build their shell, as well as to build their protein/fat/carbs in the "meat" of the oyster. So then the question is really "When the meat is all gone and it is just a shell, does it matter what the oyster ate"? When it comes to if someone would consider it organic or not.

I suppose if someone accepted that ocean water and all that comes along with it is organic, then oysters are organic, both shell as well as meat. But if someone is worried about human wastewater and the things that come with that (prescription drugs both flushed whole, as well as excreted via urine and feces), then there are issues. Also runoff from agricultural fields, etc...

Exactly!

 

[ColtHandorf]

The calcium carbonate is a trace element in sea water. If you are familiar with marine aquariums, most invertebrates; snails, crabs, hard corals, and mollusks are able to use the available calcium by pulling it from the water itself. It is not obtained through the diet of the organism. This is why artificial salt designed for marine aquariums must be balanced in a manner that allows the organisms to grow and why in heavily stocked aquariums dosing systems are installed in order to keep the pH, calcium, and alkalinity in appropriate ranges to promote growth and replace the necessary elements as they are used.

There is nothing organic about the ocean any longer thanks to mankind. The waters are filled with pollutants, microplastics, and a multitude of other things. With a little research I'm sure you could find research articles to see whether sea pollution has been measured in oyster shells. If the shells are essentially pure calcium carbonate and do not hold trace materials of other potentially harmful pollutants then there is no reason you can't offer your eggs as organically raised. It isn't as though there's any flesh of the oyster the birds are getting.

But for that matter if the issue is pressing, why not just get liquid calcium and offer it in a separate drinking vessel? That should eliminate any complaints about the calcium they are using coming from an inorganic source.

 

[paneubert]

The calcium carbonate is a trace element in sea water. If you are familiar with marine aquariums, most invertebrates; snails, crabs, hard corals, and mollusks are able to use the available calcium by pulling it from the water itself. It is not obtained through the diet of the organism. This is why artificial salt designed for marine aquariums must be balanced in a manner that allows the organisms to grow and why in heavily stocked aquariums dosing systems are installed in order to keep the pH, calcium, and alkalinity in appropriate ranges to promote growth and replace the necessary elements as they are used.

There is nothing organic about the ocean any longer thanks to mankind. The waters are filled with pollutants, microplastics, and a multitude of other things. With a little research I'm sure you could find research articles to see whether sea pollution has been measured in oyster shells. If the shells are essentially pure calcium carbonate and do not hold trace materials of other potentially harmful pollutants then there is no reason you can't offer your eggs as organically raised. It isn't as though there's any flesh of the oyster the birds are getting.

But for that matter if the issue is pressing, why not just get liquid calcium and offer it in a separate drinking vessel? That should eliminate any complaints about the calcium they are using coming from an inorganic source.

Right. I have saltwater fish tanks and dose elements all the time. The issue here is how do you define "pulling it from the water itself" versus "consuming" in the context of how we normally define what is considered organic. I am thinking bureaucratically/certification guidelines wise. Playing devils advocate here. Also just as a fun thought experiment.

Could someone claim that the oysters shells are organic because they secrete "pure" calcium that they "breathed in" from the contaminated water much like a head of lettuce "breathed in" ambient atmosphere that might have pollutants in it? Organic crops are not grown in a vacuum absent of all sort of stuff floating around in the air, yet can still be organic. So oysters could have the same claim I suppose.

 

[paneubert]

I do like the idea of dosing their water. Although I think that would get super risky if you screw up the dosages. I already have a jug of calcium stock solution for my aquariums. Why not squirt some into the chicken waterer.

 

[ColtHandorf]

It is a common practice with small ornamental caged birds in the event of eggbinding. It happens due to the hens being unable to process calcium because they don't get Vitamin D3 from the sunlight like chickens outdoors do. I offer boiled egg in the form of soft homemade eggfood instead of relying on avian lighting (that is super expensive and needs to be replaced every six months to a year). D3 is present in the eggs naturally and allows the hens to process the calcium in their diet, the crushed eggshell in their eggfood, and other calcium supplements. However if I hen does egg bind a drop or two of calcium administered directly to the bill so she takes it will often see her right as rain by the next morning.