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 <3-2,2X10, Aeromonas sp. <3-1,1x10 elevado a 3, Staphylococcus aureus <3 -7,5x10; Clostridium perfringens < 3 - 9,3x10); cfu/g Enterobacteriaceae 3 - 4,1x10 elevado a 2 ; total aerobes 2,9x10 elevado a 2 - 6,9x10 elevado a 5 ; 6% of S. aureus were coagulase positive. Values of MPN/g of handled samples were higher: Faecal coliforms 4 - 4,6x10 elevado a 2; E. coli 9 -2,1x10 elevado a 2, Aeromonas 3 - 4,6x10 elevado a 2, S. aureus 2,3x10 - 4,6x10 elevado a 2, C. perfringens <3 - 2,8x10 elevado a 2, and cfu/g counts of Enterobacteriaceae 5,4x10 - 6,5x10 elevado a 6, total aerobes 30 - 2,8x10 elevado a 5). El 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.