In July 2013 Minnesota Department of Health and City of Minneapolis health officials investigated an outbreak of Vibrio parahaemolyticus among restaurant patrons who consumed raw oysters. Oysters were served at two restaurants located in Minneapolis. Six cases were identified - one who ate raw oysters at "Restaurant A" and 5 who ate raw oysters at "Restaurant B." Dates of illness onset ranged from July 21 to July 29, 2013. No cases were hospitalized and there were no deaths.

Invoices showed that the oysters of interest were shipped to the restaurants directly from a distributor, Island Creek Oysters, in Duxbury, Massachusetts. Oyster tags indicated that Rocky Nook and Spring Creek oysters were harvested on July 15 and Howland Landing oysters were harvested on July 24. Howland Landing and Rocky Nook are adjacent harvest areas in the same growing area zone, CCB43 in Kingston Bay, Massachusetts. Spring Creek in in Barnstable, growing zone CCB31, Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Additional cases linked to Kingston Bay area oysters may have been identified and investigated in other states. On August 30, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Bureau of Environmental Health Food Protection Program issued a recall of all oysters harvested from Plymouth Bay, Kingston Bay, Duxbury Bay, Bluefish river and Black River from July 22 to August 30.