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A bucket of clams sits on the shore. (Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images)
NEW YORK—A Chinese fish market manager and two of her employees were allegedly spotted unloading large bags of clams from the luggage compartment of a passenger bus in Chinatown.
Environmental Conservation officers allegedly recovered a bucket of the same clams on sale at New Lin Sichuan Fish Market, at 30 Market Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown, later the same day.
According to a felony complaint filed Tuesday, laboratory tests found the clams had fecal coliform bacterial levels more than 30 times the acceptable public health standard, as well as excessive levels of E. coli bacteria.
“Consumption of raw shellfish with this type of gross fecal contamination places a person in substantial risk of serious physical injury or death,” the indictment from Attorney General Eric. T. Schneiderman’s office said.
According to the indictment, the clams were not refrigerated or stored in proper containers, nor did they have any of the legally required labels, which give the name, date, and location of where the shellfish were harvested.
New Lin Sichuan Fish Market Inc. has been charged with a number of violations regarding the illegal sale of the clams.
The business, along with its 51-year-old manager, Jin Hua Ke, were charged in New York County Criminal Court with two counts of illegal commercialization of wildlife (a Class E felony), one count of illegal commercialization of wildlife (a Class A misdemeanor), and one count of reckless endangerment in the second degree (a Class A misdemeanor).
If convicted, New Lin Sichuan Fish Market, Inc. could face up to $30,000 worth of fines, and Jin Hua Ke faces up to four years in prison, in addition to paying up to $16,000 in fines.
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