The habitual consumption of oysters in the city of Cumaná, Venezuela, is made in poor sanitary conditions, therefore a study was carried out to determine the sanitary quality of the product. For this, 120 samples of oyster Pinctada imbricata were collected directly from: a) Fishing boats (unhandled samples) and b) after being shucked by the salesman (handled samples). Unhandled samples showed the following MPN/g: Faecal coliforms < 3 - 2.2 x 10, Aeromonas sp. < 3 - 1.1 x 10(3), Staphylococcus aureus < 3 - 7.5 x 10; Clostridium perfringens < 3 - 9.3 x 10); cfu/g Enterobacteriaceae 3 - 4.1 x 10(2); total aerobes 2.9 x 10(2) - 6.9 x 10(5); 6% of S. aureus were coagulase positive. Values of MPN/g of handled samples were higher: Faecal coliforms 4 - 4.6 x 10(2); E. coli 9 - 2.1 x 10(2), Aeromonas 3 - 4.6 x 10(2), S. aureus 2.3 x 10 - 4.6 x 10(2), C. perfringens < 3 - 2.8 x 10(2), and cfu/g counts of Enterobacteriaceae 5.4 x 10 - 6.5 x 10(6), total aerobes 30 - 2.8 x 10(5); 25% of S. aureus were coagulase positive. Salmonella sp. was detected in two of the handled samples. These results suggest contamination in growth areas of bivalve and during the collecting operation, which is increased by handling of the product by the salesman.