Month Purification time (hours) E. coli (MPN/100g FIL)     Mussels parasitized with Marteilia spp. Marteilia-free mussels May 0 (BC) 340 40 0 (PC) 490 700 310 330 12 140 330 40 110 24 40 130 20 20 36 50 80 <18 20 48 <18 50 <18 70 70 <18 <18 <18 <18   0 (BC) <18 <18 June 0 (PC) 9200 16000 9200 16000   12 5400 9200 1700 16000   24 340 1700 220 490   36 330 490 270 330   48 130 170 80 130   70 110 140 110 170   0 (BC) <18 <18 October 0 (PC) 330 490 170 460   12 230 790 20 110   24 <18 <18 20 50   36 <18 <18 <18 <18   48 20 50 20 20   70 <18 <18 <18 <18

BC = before contamination; PC = post contamination

Table 2: Results of microbiological analyses (E. coli) performed on parasitized and parasite-free mussels (M. galloprovincialis) at different purification times.