The common British cockle does not look like a weapon of mass destruction. Along with jellied eels, they may not be eaten by anyone you actually know. But countless millions of British cockles are consumed every year in the UK and all over Europe. And there is not one reported case of a cockle causing food poisoning.
Yet the major cockle fisheries of the Thames Estuary, The Wash and the Burry Inlet, a beautiful stretch of the South Wales coast, are all closed, on the orders of the Food Standards Authority, acting on EU directives.
So
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British cockles are poisonous, says UK gov't
The common British cockle does not look like a weapon of mass destruction. Along with jellied eels, they may not be eaten by anyone you actually know. But countless millions of British cockles are consumed every year in the UK and all over Europe. And there is not one reported case of a cockle causing food poisoning.
22 July 2003 2:58 GMT
Updated
10 July 2012 7:58 GMT
