A Massachusetts food blogger and content creator has gone viral on TikTok after sharing a video in which she flagged what she described as a serious food safety mistake made by a person she identified as an executive chef. The video, posted by Allie Hagerty, who runs the digital food publication Seasoned & Salted under the handle @thealliehagerty, had accumulated more than 468,000 views as of the time of writing.
In the clip, Hagerty said she had watched a video of someone described as an executive chef cooking a seafood pasta dish with clams, mussels, and shrimp. She said the chef appeared to add the seafood to the pan in the wrong order, but that was not what alarmed her most.
The bigger concern, she said, came when a clam failed to open during cooking. According to Hagerty, rather than discarding it, the chef inserted a knife into the shell, forced it open, and served it as part of the dish.
The food safety concern behind unopened clams during cooking
Hagerty explained in the video why she believed this was dangerous. “If a clam doesn’t open when it’s steamed, that’s a dead clam,” she said. “So that’s like, you can get like a seaborne illness from eating that. Um, it’s dangerous.”
She added that this is something she considers common knowledge among anyone who has cooked seafood. “And literally anyone that has ever cooked seafood, like, that’s like the number one thing that I tell people and people should know,” she said. “And especially someone who’s licensed to cook, like, as an executive chef and like has been doing this for like 20 years or so, should know that.”
Hagerty closed the video with a direct message to viewers. “So this is your PSA as a reminder that if a clam does not open when it’s steamed and cooked, you have to toss it. You don’t open it and eat it,” she said.
Her position appears to align with guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. According to the FDA, clams should be discarded if they do not open during the cooking process. “The shells open during cooking, throw out ones that don’t open,” the agency states in its guidance on selecting and serving fresh and frozen seafood safely.
Food publication The Takeout has also reported on this topic, noting that healthy live clams typically keep their shells tightly closed due to contracted muscles. According to the outlet, the shells open naturally during cooking as the muscles relax after the clam dies.
It further noted that clams that remain closed after cooking may be a sign of contamination and are considered risky to consume. Viewers who commented on the video largely appeared to share Hagerty’s concern. “As someone who’s never cooked clams or mussels, I knew that,” one commenter wrote. Another said, “How many times I had to send back closed clams at seafood restaurants is embarrassing.”
A third comment read, “People don’t understand why we go through serve safe training.” One viewer also pointed out the reverse situation: “Reversely, if it is open BEFORE you cook it, toss!” Another joked, “Maybe he just plays an executive chef on the internet.” In another case, a shopper paid full price for fresh cod at a Publix seafood counter before a closer look revealed something concerning.
It is also worth noting that Hagerty mentioned the chef appeared to add the various seafood to the dish in the wrong order, before the unopened clam issue arose. Generally, according to cooking guidance, shrimp and softer shellfish are cooked separately or earlier in the process and then set aside, while clams and mussels are added to the pasta dish before the pre-cooked shrimp is reincorporated.
A similar viral story involved a Pittsburgh restaurant owner who exposed food influencers and now faces a cease-and-desist threat. It’s unclear whether the chef responded to this video since they were unnamed.
Published: Jul 7, 2026 01:30 pm