A ban on cockle harvesting in North Norfolk has been lifted after latest sample testing for toxins proved negative.

People are now being advised that it is safe to eat cockles harvested from the stretch of coast around the Wash including Heacham, Hunstanton and Holme-next-the Sea.

Tests for the toxins that cause diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) will still be done on every two weeks.

King's Lynn and West Norfolk Borough Council environmental health officer Peter Scott says it means cockle fishermen can get going as soon as the season opens in July.

The season lasts only six or seven weeks

Environmental health officer, Peter Scott

"It does take while to set boats up for cockling so they need to know they can to out and do their job when the season opens in July.

"It only lasts for six or seven weeks so they can conserve stocks."

Any collecting of cockles from beaches was banned earlier this year because the toxins, which are naturally-occurring, can cause violent stomach upsets.

The ban did not affect the commercial fishing because the season does not start until July, or cockles on sale in shops which are either frozen or come from elsewhere.

Cockles can now be harvested

The toxins, which are produced by species of algae, accumulate in shellfish and are not destroyed by cooking.

DSP toxins were first detected in UK shellfish in a batch of cockles from the Thames Estuary in June 1991 and the problems appears to be getting worse.

Shellfish beds along the Thames Estuary become contaminated with the poisons in June 2001.

Fishermen on the Essex side were ordered not to collect cockles, mussels, clams and oysters because of the risk of severe diarrhoea and sickness in anyone who ate them.