CDPH Warns Consumers to Not Eat the Internal Organs of Sport-Harvested Dungeness Crab from the Northern California Coast
Decemeber 12, 2025
SN25-033
What You Need to Know: CDPH is warning consumers not to eat the internal organs (viscera) of sport-harvested Dungeness crab from portions of the Northern California Coast due to high levels of domoic acid.
SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) is warning consumers to not eat the internal organs (viscera) of sport-harvested Dungeness crab caught along the coastal areas of Northern California.
This warning is in effect for state waters
located at:
- CA/OR border (42° 0.00' N. Latitude) to Reading Rock State Marine Reserve (41° 17.6' N. Latitude)
- Ten Mile State Marine Reserve (39⁰ 33.30' N. Latitude) to Sonoma/Mendocino County Line (38° 46.125' N. Latitude)
CDPH is advising consumers not to eat the internal organs (viscera) of Dungeness crab harvested from the coastal areas identified above. Dangerous levels of domoic acid, also referred to as Amnesic Shellfish Poisoning, have only been detected in the internal organs (viscera) of Dungeness crab caught from these areas.
This is an update from CDPH’s
Whole Dungeness Crab Advisory dated October 24, 2025,
where the public was warned to not consume any sport-harvested whole Dungeness crab (meat or viscera) from these areas. Domoic Acid is a naturally occurring biotoxin. Cooking the crab does not decrease or destroy the toxin.
Consumers are advised to always discard the viscera and cooking liquids, and adhere to the following preparation practices to avoid any inadvertent exposure to domoic acid that may be sporadically found in the crab’s viscera. It is always best to remove the viscera and rinse out the body cavity prior to cooking (i.e., boiling, steaming, or frying). If whole crab are cooked in liquid, domoic acid may leach into the broth. The cooking water or broth should be discarded and not used to prepare dishes such as sauces, broth, soups, or stews (cioppino or gumbo), stocks, roux, dressings, or dips.
Symptoms of domoic acid poisoning can occur within 30 minutes to 24 hours after eating toxic seafood. In mild cases, symptoms may include vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal cramps, headache, and dizziness. These symptoms disappear within several days. In severe cases, the consumer may experience trouble breathing, confusion, cardiovascular instability, seizures, excessive bronchial secretions, permanent loss of short-term memory, coma, or death.
CDPH continues to coordinate its efforts with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) and the fishing community to collect and test crab samples from the impacted areas until domoic acid levels have dissipated.
Test results are updated as laboratory results become available and can be viewed on the
CDPH Domoic Acid webpage. Please visit
CDPH’s Domoic Acid FAQ for more information. To receive updated information about shellfish poisoning and quarantines, call CDPH’s toll-free “Shellfish Information Line” at (800) 553-4133.