PETALING JAYA: The Terengganu Fisheries Department says no biotoxins have been detected from water samples taken after the recent cockle-collecting "frenzy" at Pantai Sura in Dungun.
"However, based on analysis of specimens that washed ashore in previous years, laboratory results showed faecal coliform E. coli bacteria in the cockles, higher than the permissible level," it said in a statement issued Thursday (Jan 16).
The department said cockles with such bacterial levels are classified as Class B, which means they must be fully cooked before consumption.
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It said a bacterial analysis is being carried out by the Kuantan Fisheries biosecurity laboratory on the latest batch of cockles and the full results will be known in three days.
"This phenomenon of cockles being brought to shores by strong waves also happened a few years earlier and the department found that compliance with food safety standards, especially cooking the cockles before consumption, should be observed," it added.
On Wednesday (Jan 15), hundreds of people thronged the beach to collect cockles that had been washed up in large numbers by strong, high waves.
On Thursday, Dungun police warned the public not to collect the cockles owing to dangerous and unpredictable sea conditions.
