The giant tanks and industrial feel reminded me of being in a brewery. Our tour guide explained how free-swimming oyster larvae grow from the size of a speck of dust into the version of shellfish ...

You can get it from oysters or from swimming in warm brackish water. But let's put that into perspective. Julie Qiu: "The risk of running into a bad oyster is lower than people think it is.

The Billion Oyster Program incorporates oyster larvae, imported from East Coast hatcheries, into tanks with reef structures.